Otafuku, known as Otafu in Western releases, is a boss in The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. He is the boss of Warlock Zone IV and the leader of the dreaded Otafuku Army.
Description[]
Otafuku is the boss of Warlock Zone IV, and making honor to his name, he's the leader of the dreaded Otafuku Army. Both himself and his boss battle are notably bizarre, even for Ganbare Goemon standards. He is fought in four phases.
However, before the battle against Otafuku himself starts, the team has to fight two sumo-like henchmen minibosses known as the Twin Wrestlers. Once both goons have been defeated, one of them will walk to the center of the screen and drop dead. His spirit will then leave his body and possesses the Otafuku mask hanging in the background, bringing it to life. This is where the main boss battle really starts.
- Phase 1
Otafuku will start his hostilities by hovering from side to side of the screen with a deceiving benevolent expression on his face. Each time he's hit, he'll be pushed back, so the player is advised to develop a good rhythm to attack him and not just rush at him whacking with their weapon. Once the boss has sustained four hits, all of his facial features –eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and cheeks– will drop to the ground and his head will be sent flying far into the background, only to return a few seconds later and reattach his face parts.
- Phase 2
His second attack is almost identical to the first one, where he'll also hover from side to side and be pushed back with each hit, although now having an angry expression on his face, and if the player happens to be below him, this time he'll drop down trying to crush them. Again, after sustaining four hits, his facial features will drop to the floor and his head will be sent flying into the background.
- Phase 3
On his third phase, Otafuku apparently will start losing his ability to properly reconstitute himself, and will fail to reattach his facial features correctly (the cheeks will be where his eyes should be, his eyes will act as his eyebrows, and his eyebrows will form some sort of mustache over the mouth). The giant Otafuku mask will now start bouncing like a ball all across the room. Each time he hits the ground, the mask will stretch a considerable length, so the player should avoid standing too near to him when this happens. As usual, after sustaining the fourth hit, the same routine with his face parts falling will repeat.
- Phase 4
His fourth phase is the final one. In it, Otafuku will start to freely float around, but each time he receives a hit, he'll grow a bit in size, progressively leaving less and less space in the room for the player to maneuver. Toward the end of the battle, the mask will have grown so big that it will actually occupy the entire screen. He'll also be more resilient during this phase and now it will take eight hits to defeat him. Fortunately, once the final hit is dealt to Otafuku, he won't be able to reconstitute himself and the battle will finally be over.
The giant head will be sent flying one last time into the background, although this time it will break in half, and from inside of it will emerge none other than Yae, a kunoichi who will reveal to the heroes that she was captured by the Otafuku Army while looking for counterfeiters; and realizing they must also be looking for something, she suggests them to go seek the guidance of the Old Wise Man who lives in Iga.
Otafuku returns in the final stage, Warlock Zone IX: Final Story, as one of the two minibosses (the other being the Lantern Man) that are fought prior to the final battle against the Hannya Shogun. He features a different color palette, but his encounter is pretty much the same as his standard version, just ditching the two sumo henchmen playing catch phase.
Appearances[]
- The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (1991)
- Wai Wai Bingo (1993)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Otafuku is a female character associated to Hyottoko, usually portrayed as an ugly and rotund woman but good-natured and humorous. Her origin might lie in a famous Uzume miko from the Muromachi period who was nicknamed Kamejo ("Turtle Woman") for resembling a traditional turtle mask or okame. She would have received also the nickname of otakufu ("much good fortune") for her goodness and virtue. In posterior centuries, she appears in theatre and literature as Hyottoko's wife.
- Otafuku makes a cameo appearance in Wai Wai Bingo.
See also[]
External links[]
- Goemon International - Source of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja sketch image.