Golem (Adventure Story)
The Golem is the third boss of Adventure Story. It is the boss of the snowy mountain area, fought in the fifteenth stage, "Absolute Zero". Like the other bosses, it returns for the boss rush in Stage 22.
Appearance
The Golem resembles a monstrous head made of grey stone. It has two eyeholes, with one being smaller than the other, a pair of curved horns (one of which appears to have broken off), and an enormous mouth filled with spiky rock "teeth". Its body appears to be made of two separate sections that overlap each other, as it can open its mouth to perform certain attacks. A pair of small ice crystals are also visible between its horns.
As it takes damage, the Golem's body begins cracking and a blue light appears in its eyeholes. The cracks become more numerous and widespread and the glow in its eyes brightens as it nears defeat.
Battle
Initially, the Golem "stands" on the far right of its stage, atop a raised section of ground. Like all bosses in the game, it becomes temporarily invincible for a short time after being hit three times - when this happens, Matt should back off and wait for the boss to stop flickering with red light before resuming his assault.
The Golem attacks by opening its mouth and releasing a barrage of ice shards, similar to a Viking Monolith. Matt can deflect the ice shards with his sword, but it is recommended that he stay away from the Golem when it attacks, as the sheer number of shards can overwhelm his defences if he is too close. The attack is telegraphed by the Golem opening its mouth, which emits a blue glow before releasing the ice shards.
After a few rounds of ice shards, the Golem will burrow underground, emerging on the right side of the shallow pit in the middle of the stage shortly after. From there, it will burrow over to the left side of the pit, before burrowing over to the left edge of the stage, where it will resume spitting ice shards for a while. Every time it burrows or emerges, it will send three boulders flying in a random pattern - these cannot be destroyed, so Matt should avoid them with the help of the platforms over the pit and his bounce attack (attacking in midair just before landing on the Golem). Since the Golem always moves across the entire stage in three successive burrows, Matt can get some easy hits in by standing on the edges of the stage and attacking the boss from behind as it moves through the pit - as it always faces the middle of the stage, the Golem's defenceless back is exposed while burrowing through the pit.
Once it loses a third of its health, the Golem will upgrade its ice shard barrage; not only will it fire more shards, but it will summon an Ice Idol at the end of the move. The Idols should be dealt with immediately to prevent them from sneaking up on Matt - luckily, the Golem's attacks are just as effective on its minions as they are on its enemy. Additionally, the Golem will create four boulders with its burrowing attack, but the previous dodging methods are still effective.
With two-thirds of its health gone, the Golem intensifies its attacks again - it moves more quickly, fires more ice shards than ever, creates five boulders when it burrows around, and leaves a Viking Monolith on the edge of the stage when it begins burrowing towards the other side. At this point, Matt may have to forgo some attacking opportunities to deal with the Monolith (and any surviving Ice Idols), as the added enemy support makes dodging nigh-impossible. Alternately, Matt can go to the other side of the stage to attack the Golem when it approaches, and then take down the Monolith with minimal risk of being hit by the boss's ice shards - doing so, however, can let the Golem spawn multiple Ice Idols to harrass the player. As usual, both the Golem and its summoned minions must be destroyed to open the portal to the next part of the level.
In the boss rush, the Golem's stage has an ice floor over the pit and spikes on the sides, making it more difficult to evade its attacks and destroy its Monolith helpers.
Trivia
- Due to Matt Roszak mirroring its sprite, the Golem's broken horn and larger eye hole change positions whenever it turns around.
- The Golem is effectively an amalgam of multiple enemies in the Snowy Mountain area; it has the ice shard attack of the Viking Monolith, the burrowing abilities of the Frost Sprite, the boulder-throwing attack of the Rock Sprite, and the ability to spawn Ice Idols. The ice crystal sticking out of its head may also be a reference to the Frost Sprite or the Big Snow Slime.
- The Golem is the only boss in Adventure Story where neither Lance, Natalie, or NoLegs appear during the battle.
- The Golem's design may have inspired the overworld sprites of the Golem enemies in Epic Battle Fantasy 4. In particular, the Ice Golem's overworld sprite resembles a simplified version of the Adventure Story Golem, minus the horns and eyes.
- In Epic Battle Fantasy 5, Poseidon and Vulcan strongly resemble the Golem.
Gallery
The Golem flashes red and becomes invincible after taking several consecutive blows.
The Golem's appearance after losing a third of its health.
The Golem's appearance after losing two-thirds of its health.
