If there's any one section of the Kingdom Hearts series that Square Enix has struggled to keep relevant, it would have to be the Gummi Ship and Gummi Missions that divide each world. However, Kingdom Hearts 2 was quick to try reinventing the original's weakest aspect, with the introduction of new Gummi Ships, faster paced gameplay, and a reason to reply missions.
Among these new additions included boss like the Pirate Ship, which first appears to goad players into seeing if they can destroy the entire multi-level encounter. It isn't the first boss fight introduced in a Gummi Mission in Kingdom Hearts 2, but it does stand out as one of the first encounters to encourage players to come back as it makes it clear that they missed something.
First Encounter With The Pirate Ship
The first time players come across the Pirate Ship is during the Gummi Mission Phantom Storm, which is roughly a quarter of the way through the game and appears right before first accessing Olympus Coliseum. It originally appears as the major set-piece of the level, with the player being guided around the giant Gummi Heartless for the majority of the encounter. However, this initial fight is less of an attempt to destroy the Heartless and becomes more of an endurance test with survival being the major goal.
This isn't uncommon for Kingdom Hearts 2's Gummi Bosses, considering that many of them are specifically built to be too difficult for players to actually beat them on the first run. Of course, some of the later missions can give players a better chance at winning on their first run, either through the automatically rewarded upgraded blueprints, or through replaying early Gummi Missions. Unfortunately Phantom Storm and the Pirate Ship Heartless arrive too soon to have even close to enough firepower to really be able to properly fight off the giant enemy.
Returning To Finish It Off
For the players that did enjoy the updated Gummi Missions in Kingdom Hearts 2, the initial fight against the Pirate Ship acts as an unfinished little nugget that scratches at the back of their mind. This might not be the case for every fan of the series, but for a number of players, the lack of catharsis that comes from not beating the Pirate Ship will lead them back to fight it again. If the player is attempting this too early, then it probably won't go too well for a while as they still need to build up their Gummi Ships to have the power to stand up against the Heartless.
Later on, though, players will finally get the firepower necessary to finally beat the Pirate Ship and come back to go through the mission again and take down the Heartless for good. The first indication of having enough power is finally being able to start knocking off the wheels and destroy the cannons that cover the ship. Then comes the final confrontation against the massive skull attached to the front of the ship that takes tons of damage before finally breaking the Pirate Ship in half and earning a powerful Gummi Ship piece as a reward.
Hints at Further Secret Missions
Taking out this Heartless becomes a huge turning point for the Gummi Missions between Kingdom Hearts 2's worlds, revealing that these bosses that usually appear for a bit before quickly disappearing can actually be beaten. Even something as massive as the Pirate Ship can actually be destroyed, and there is a tangible reward for going back and taking these Heartless out. This then leads to the secret missions and secret boss that appears at the end of the final Gummi Mission in the game, with a repeat of the same concept.
The final Gummi Mission, Assault of the Dreadnought, later copies the core concept of the Pirate Ship, only this time by sending the player through a massive warship piloted by Kingdom Hearts 2's Nobodies. However, in a strange twist, when going through the same motions and destroying this warship, the player is then introduced to the true final Gummi Boss, the Hunter-X. It's a callback to an earlier fight that pays off the same type of cathartic need for completion as the Pirate Ship encounter with a whole new fight, instead of just a new material as a reward.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is available now for PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.