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The Amada Vipros attacks Balor's power core.
Balor (バロール barooru) is the endboss of Stage F-C (BRES Colony). It awaits deep in within the space colony after a long and grueling fight.
Backstory[]
The stellar nebula's ambient radiation provides unlimited power when refined properly. As a result, a high concentration of tritium plasma is held stable under a high magnetic field, creating the pulsating energy core that powers the space colony, as well as the temporal warp technology BRES uses.
BRES knows that this power generating facility is a vulnerable target, so they constructed a formidable fortress around the core, the Balor fortress. Not only to defend the power core from saboteurs, but because it is unknown what may happen if the power core is disturbed too much...
Design basis[]
Balor is the power core boss at the end of stage 7 of Viper Phase 1.
The name Balor is that of the champion of the Fomorians, a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Balor is described as a giant who was one, two-, or even three-eyed, with one eye that wreaks destruction when opened.
Attack patterns[]
NOTE: Four out of five phases have been completed so far, so this information is considered to be a work in progress.
Upon arrival of the fighters, Balor will begin to fire a pattern of three-way bullets in a spiral -- this is the first phase, and is generally considered a defensive mechanism. Several enemy fighters also join the fight. The spiral pattern is very difficult to dodge, putting the players' dodging skills to the test. Once it stops firing, Balor can be attacked.
Once damaged, Balor opens what seems to be a door to its realm. It then fires bullets in several directions, as well as summoning eight orbs that shoot lasers. This is the second phase: it has gained offensive capabilities alongside defensive measures.
After sustaining superficial damage, Balor becomes unstable and is covered in a protective shell, concealing the energy sphere within to prevent collateral damage. It now begins to bounce, firing bullets in several directions in forms of circles. Several enemy fighters assist it to disorient the player's ship. After a few seconds, it stands still on top, firing a concentric shape of rapid bullets, before bouncing again. The second time it stops bouncing, this time, it fires quartiles of bullets randomly, before bouncing again, and the cycle repeats.
Once the shell is critically damaged, Balor lets out a beastly scream, and it explodes, revealing its true form: that of a gargantuan organic creature -- it turns out that Balor is also a bioweapon, just like Megadon and Xenoscorpius. This is why BRES did not want the creature's energy form to be disturbed too much, it was prone to instability and metamorphosis. After transforming, Balor fires a six-way laser, rotating counter-clockwise. After completing a full rotation, it begins to fire three-way bullets, lasers and several clusters of bullets, while the lasers themselves rotate clockwise. This makes dodging difficult, as the bullets can hit the player's ship during the dodging process.
After being critically wounded, Balor undergoes its ultimate transformation: it reveals its arms, ready to fire at the player in a last ditch effort to eliminate their opponent.
Trivia[]
- Balor originates from the 1995 Seibu Kaihatsu video game Raiden spin-off, Viper Phase 1, as the seventh stage's boss and the penultimate boss of this game, followed by Copper Caoineag. Strangely, when it transforms, it takes the appearance of the Organic Weapon F.G.R., the final boss of Psikyo's 1997 shooter Strikers 1945 II and its 1999 remix Strikers 1945 Plus.
- Balor, alongside Copper Caoineag, are one of the two bosses in Xeno Fighters R that originate from Viper Phase 1.
- Balor is, so far, the only boss in Xeno Fighters R that has two different forms originating from different games.
- It was planned to have Balor a secret sixth phase with its own theme, but due to the stage itself in which it appears being the longest in the entire game so far, it was scrapped. This secret phase would have been triggered under very specific circumstances, most likely surviving the entire stage or the first five phases of the boss fight without losing a life.
- The first phase of Balor's attack pattern are a direct reference to the Chaos Queen's first attack pattern from Psikyo's 1999 game Strikers 1945 III.
| Bosses | ||
| Starting stage bosses | Techno-Ayako (1) ● Silver Banshee (2) | |
| A-stage bosses | Jasper Gigas (3-A) ● Orion Arrow (4-A) ● Steel Aughisky (5-A) ● Bronze Harpy (6-A) | |
| B-stage bosses | Jade Hydra (3-B) ● Obsidian Peryton (4-B) ● Citadel Geryon (Orthrus, Eurytion) (5-B) ● Dullahan (6-B) | |
| Final stage bosses | Copper Caoineag (5-C) ● Gettok (F-A) ● Dreadnought Echidna (F-B) ● Balor (F-C) | |
| EX bosses | Green Walrus (EX-1) ● Blue Optomon (EX-2) ● Ziyudee (EX-3) ● BonziBUDDY (EX-4) ● Vahrstor (EX-5) ● Black Heart (EX-6) | |
| Midbosses | Staubteufel (3-A) ● Teramanta (3-B) ● Stymphalian Birds (4-B) ● Megadon (6-A) ● Xenoscorpius (F-B) ● Mauve Mokoi (F-C) ● Big Boy Shippu (EX-3) ● Clippy (EX-4) ● Hummingbird (EX-6) | |
| Other | The Stranger (Azure Silence) | |