Dark Star Core: Difference between revisions

This form of Dark Fawful consists of 6 parts: His glasses, three appendages, and the Dark Star Core located on his head. The Dark Star Core is located on the top screen and is initially unreachable. To damage the core, the brothers first have to shatter Dark Fawful's eyes, making him cover them with his two hands and leaving his legs vulnerable (Dark Fawful will retract his left and right legs if either of his eyes remain, preventing them from taking damage). Then the brothers have to destroy all three of his legs (the legs can regrow after a couple of turns), a feat most easily done using the [[Snack Basket]] technique. Dark Fawful will now fall to the ground and shatter, leaving the Dark Star Core itself vulnerable. The brothers have to damage the core as much as possible before it revives Dark Fawful and escapes Bowser's body, forcing the above process to be repeated.

Dark Fawful's attacks vary depending on whether or not his legs are still present. Sometimes he picks up the Mario Bros. and uses the Dark Star to shoot rings of stars at them. He will move both the Dark Star and his arms up and down at various heights before shooting the rings; depending on where they are, jumping will either have the bros. avoid the attack, accomplish nothing, or actually propel the bros ''into'' the stars if the Dark Star is right above them. A second attack involves Dark Fawful transforming into a limbless form that then proceeds to chase the brothers. The Dark Star will try to ram the bros in the meantime, but not before appearing overhead with a colored aura which is either green or red and thus capable of portraying which brother will have to jump. After a while, the Mario Bros. will fall into a white portal and the fight will continue. The last attack Dark Fawful uses sees the loon plant his arms in the ground and send energy orbs down them: the bros. must hammer the energy orbs to avoid a shockwave attack which can knock the victim over, and occasionally a larger orb will be sent down which - if struck - will fly back at Dark Fawful, briefly putting the arm he was traveling on out of commission.

In the remake, a few elements are changed in the battle with the Dark Star Core: Fawful now grabs the ceiling and retracts all of his legs if the player tries to use a multi-target attack while his eyes are still intact, the swinging arrow attack is replaced with dark orbs although the dark missile part still remains, and he only uses the chase attack after the second time he is inhaled. Also in the remake, the battleground for the fight between the Mario Bros. and the Dark Star Core looks drastically different. Compared to the original which was full of alternating rainbow colors and a pulsating cell-like structure in the background, the remake's has a darker palette composed mostly of pinks, purples and blues with organic Fawful face holes in the flesh and a Bowser shell-shaped structure in the background that beats like a heart. Other more minor changes introduced in the remake include Fawful laughing and pointing at the Bros. before turning into his giant form, throwing the Bros. in the air and catching them before doing his hands attack instead of picking them up, he now has arms that he uses to drag himself forward in the chase attack instead of just being a head, the Core elevating itself to the top screen before creating the dark missile instead of staying on the bottom screen with shattered Fawful, and the music no longer stopping after the Core's defeat.