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With more than 25 thousand downloads in its first three days, Air Twister is already one of the most popular games on Apple Arcade. The futuristic rail shooter is the brainchild of Yu Suzuki, who many people consider to be one of the greatest arcade game developers of all time. Like most of Suzuki's earlier titles, Air Twister is incredibly addictive and provides a challenging yet rewarding experience that is entirely unique when compared to the rest of the Apple Arcade lineup.
From its vibrant and at times bizarre visuals to its fantastic Queen-inspired soundtrack, there’s an awful lot to love about Air Twister, but it’s perhaps the game’s many interesting boss fights that stand out the most. There are ten of them in total, with each one requiring a slightly different strategy to overcome. For those who are having trouble safely navigating them, this guide will explain how to beat every boss fight in Air Twister without taking too much damage.
How to Beat the Stage 1 Boss in Air Twister (Sea)
Despite its intimidating appearance, the Sea stage boss is actually incredibly simple, with players barely needing to lift a finger in order to take it down. In the interest of speed, however, they should be sure to utilize the full length of the enemy by using a flurry of long swipes to quickly deplete its health. It will fire off two fireballs as it makes its way toward the screen, but these can be easily dodged by moving from side to side.
How to Beat the Stage 2 Boss in Air Twister (Desert)
The second boss fight in Air Twister is a lot like the first, only this time there are three enemies instead of one. Players should adopt a similar strategy to last time, though using two fingers to target multiple enemies can make things go a lot faster. Again, there’ll be the occasional fireball for players to dodge, but with only two of them per cycle, this shouldn’t prove to be much of a challenge.
How to Beat the Stage 3 Boss in Air Twister (Dimple)
Air Twister’s third boss fight is made up of two phases, the first of which features a two-part cycle. First, the enemy will fire two consecutive energy beams at the princess and then raise a wall of polygons to protect itself. Once this happens, part of the wall will begin to glow yellow before flying toward the princess. To avoid taking damage, players should stay away from the glowing section (which is usually in the top right corner) and then move into the gap that it leaves behind.
Once all of the pink orbs attached to the Dimple stage boss have been destroyed, it will come in close and begin to viciously swipe at the princess with its claws. Much like in the Experiment No. Z-57 boss fight in Metroid Dread, players will be given a visual cue to help them avoid these attacks. It’s not really needed though, as the boss is scripted to alternate between attacking the left and right sides of the screen and will always start with the left. As players move from side to side dodging the swipes, they should target the boss’ head and keep hitting it until the fight is over.
Stage 4 and Stage 9 of Air Twister are bonus stages and so do not feature boss fights.
How to Beat the Stage 5 Boss in Air Twister (Forest)
The boss of the Forest stage is perhaps the strangest that Air Twister has to offer, with players squaring off against three giant clocks that spew out waves of baby clocks to attack the princess (who now happens to be riding a flying elephant that came out of a magic lamp). There are three waves of baby clocks, which players will simply need to hit once to destroy.
The clocks move pretty quickly and will fire comet-like projectiles at the player as they move around in circles, but these can be easily avoided by moving the princess in a circular motion around the screen. There are more and more projectiles to dodge with each subsequent wave, but the strategy for avoiding them remains the same. It may take players a few attempts to master the speed, but, once they do, this ends up being a relatively easy boss fight.
How to Beat the Stage 6 Boss in Air Twister (Lap)
The fifth boss in Air Twister is a giant Manta ray with three unique phases. The first requires players to target the six pink orbs on the boss' back while avoiding the streams of orange projectiles that it fires out of its mouth. The latter can be done with circular movement, while the former is best achieved with vertical swipes along each of the two columns of glowing orbs. For a faster time, players can use two fingers here but will need to be careful not to disrupt the princess' movement when doing so.
After all of the pink orbs have been destroyed, the boss will turn so that its back is now facing the princess. Once this happens, players will need to take out the six crystals sticking out of the boss' back while dodging a near-constant barrage of comets. As with the previous phase, the best strategy here is to move around in circles while targeting the crystals with fast vertical swipes until they've all been destroyed.
The final phase of the Lap stage boss fight sees a large eye open up in the center of the Manta ray's back. Once it's fully open, players should hit it with a flurry of quick taps until the fight is over. The boss will continue to fire comets at the player while this is happening, but they come in a straight line this time making them much easier to dodge with simple left and right movements.
How to Beat the Stage 7 Boss in Air Twister (Moai)
The boss of the Moai stage is a giant fighting crab. Like the previous boss fight, it's made up of three phases, the first of which requires players to hit the six pink targets that are spread out across the boss' back and claws. While its claws are open, the boss will fire streams of projectiles at the player, which will need to be dodged with circular movement. Players should aim to take out the claws first, as not only will this disarm the boss, but it will also prevent it from guarding the orbs on its back when the claws are closed.
In contrast, phase two of the boss fight is incredibly simple, though there are occasional attacks that players will need to dodge. The boss will let out a small army of baby crabs that fire green projectiles at the princess. Players should use long swipes to target multiple enemies here and aim to take them all out as quickly as possible. When it comes to dodging the projectiles, they should once again move in a circular motion around the screen.
The final phase of the Stage 7 boss fight sees the crab swipe at the princess much like the boss of the Dimple stage does during its second phase. The giant crab will also alternate between right and left swipes, though will this time start by attacking the right rather than the left. Players will need to move from side to side to avoid these attacks while targeting the two pink orbs near the boss' mouth with horizontal swipes until it goes down.
How to Beat the Stage 8 Boss in Air Twister (Aquarium)
The boss of the Aquarium stage is a giant squid, which will begin by firing a jet of ink horizontally across the bottom of the screen. To avoid this, players should move to the top-left-hand corner of the screen the moment they gain control. After that, they can begin to target the squid's tentacles, being sure to keep an eye out for the ink-squirting orifice that emerges from the bottom of the boss. It will target either the top or bottom of the screen depending on the player's position when it emerges, so, once it does, players should switch to the opposite side by moving up or down.
After all of its tentacles have been destroyed, the squid will move in close and open up its eye. Its gaze will follow the princess around the screen, though it will only attack a second or two after a red target appears on the screen. As soon as this happens, players should move away from the spot that they were in when the target first appeared. As all this is going on, they should also be tapping away at the eye as fast as possible to bring the boss down.
How to Beat the Stage 10 Boss in Air Twister (Floating City)
The boss of the Floating City stage is a giant demon and one of the most intimidating bosses in Air Twister. It's actually a relatively straightforward boss fight though, providing players are able to move fast enough. In the first phase, their aim will be to take out the seven pink orbs that are spread out across the boss' head and body. They'll also need to dodge the giant spiky balls that the boss summons, though this can be easily done with circular movement. At the end of each cycle, the boss will summon blue forcefields, but it's often possible to get around these with some careful aiming.
The second phase of the Stage 10 boss fight begins with the demon firing out a stream of projectiles from its chest. Rather than trying to dodge them, players should instead aim to destroy them while they're all still clumped together using fast circular swipes. After that, the boss will come in close and swipe at the screen; targeting the right side first and then the left. Players should move to the opposite side to avoid these attacks while tapping on the boss' head to deal damage and take it out. After the second swipe, this cycle repeats indefinitely, though if players are fast enough they should be able to defeat the boss before the end of the second cycle.
How to Beat the Stage 11 Boss in Air Twister (Space)
The Space stage arguably boasts the toughest boss fight in Air Twister due to its impressive array of attacks. Initially, it will fire streams of projectiles at the princess from its shoulder cannons before then putting up a blue forcefield. After the forcefield goes down, it will fire a blue laser across the screen which can deal some serious damage if it makes contact. To defeat the boss, players will need to take out the protective armor around its wrists, shoulders, and hips, its cannons, and then, finally, its head.
Players should target the shoulder plating and cannons first as this will prevent one of the boss' two main attacks. Until the cannons are gone though, players should move around in a circle to avoid the projectiles they fire. They'll then want to shoot through the forcefield to target the other weak points, being sure to dodge the blue laser whenever the forcefield goes down.
The easiest way to do this is by positioning the princess in the lower half of the center of the screen ahead of time. Moments before firing the laser, the boss will look up towards the top left or top right-hand corner of the screen. If it looks right, players should quickly move to the bottom right-hand corner and then move up as soon as the laser has passed. If it looks to the left, players will instead want to move to the bottom left-hand corner of the screen before moving up.
How to Beat the Stage 12 Boss in Air Twister (Polygon)
At a glance, the final boss of Air Twister is probably the least intimidating enemy in the game, though players shouldn't allow this to fool them. The giant polygon is able to fire off a deadly golden laser from its core and will unleash a near-constant barrage of smaller enemies that will fire projectiles at the princess. The fight is made up of three phases, with the complexity of the Polygon and the intensity of the lasers and enemy fire increasing with each subsequent one.
In order to expose the boss' core, players will first need to hit each of the blue triangles that make up the boss as it rotates around. They'll also need to take out the enemies that appear from behind the boss as quickly as possible and should move in circles to avoid their projectiles. As soon as all of the triangles have been hit, the polygon will open up and begin to fire off its golden laser, which moves horizontally across the screen.
To dodge the laser, players should try to position the princess near the top or bottom of the screen's center. As soon as they hear the sound of the laser or see it appear on the left or right side of the screen, they should move either up or down depending on where they were when they first heard the sound. While this is happening, they'll also need to be targeting the boss' core with quick taps, and, in phases two and three, moving to the left or right to dodge the projectiles from the accompanying enemies.
Air Twister is available now on Apple Arcade.