Arachnotron is the boss of stage 9 and the secret boss of Sky Force Anniversary, with the same AI that controls the Omega from Sky Force Reloaded.
Appearance[]
Arachnotron is a 4-legged walker that controlled by a sentient AI program. It has silver plate armor, hidden armaments, and some pistons on the back.
The boss battle against Arachnotron is extremely hard. It's equipped with several very deadly weapons.
Armaments[]
- 1x Unbreakable Tesla Coil
When trying to hover near the boss, the player will take automatic damage when not shielded.
- 6x Homing Energy Launcher
A never before seen weapon (a theme of Arachnotron) that fires six homing spheres of dangerous energy. Occasionally, it doesn't fire three on the left and three on the right, seemingly at random. These fire even during the obliteration phase, making it the only time a nearly defeated boss can cause huge problems.
Phase 1
- 1x Super Cannon
This gun will fire bullets at the player until it's destroyed. Simple on paper, but beware, it shoots very quickly and never pauses to reload.
Phase 2
- 2x Flamethrowers
These weapons will shoot fire in a straight line in an attempt to box in the player. The flamethrowers also won't aim at the player, as they only shoot straight for a while and then stop. Getting caught between them, like the Mantis Heavy Tank's lasers, will cause many problems if the big weapon fires.
Phase 3
- 1x Gatling Cannon
This gun fires powerful high velocity projectiles at an extremely high fire rate. It's pretty easy to destroy the gatling gun, but be careful as the bullets do a lot of damage. There are long intervals after each firing, so it might be a good idea to take this opportunity and damage it.
Phase 4
- 1x Giga Laser
When the gatling gun is destroyed, the machine guns will be blown off to reveal a large, intimidating laser cannon. It fires a substantial, huge, light blue laser. This is the only weapon in the game that can pierce through Energy Shields (but only on Steam). It will either shoot straight forward or sway 30 degrees to either side in a cone shape during firing. On mobile, it can also sweep 360 degrees, with questionable ability to retain a Stay Untouched Medal without an energy shield.
Combat Routine[]
The homing energy and tesla coil can not be destroyed until after obliteration, when Arachnotron is fully defeated.
Phase 1
This weapon fires unstoppable volleys in straight vertical lines at the center. There is nothing hard about first phase (with the exception of homing energy which can be surprising at first).
Phase 2
Similar to the previous phase, but with two flames on the side. The only issue is when the homing energy becomes undodgeable when the player is boxed in.
Phase 3
A common theme of Arachnotron is never before seen weapons. The gatling cannon is not a big issue, but it does actually aim at the player unlike every other phase-specific weapon. Combined with the homing energy, this can be deceptively tricky even with the short firing time.
Phase 4
The giga laser promotes a huge issue. The limited amount of space due to the enormous coverage of the beam and the homing energy seeking constantly leaves many tight situations during the fight. On mobile platforms, the giga laser does not pierce through an energy shield. To make up for this, instead of the pattern being still, cone, cone, it's still, cone, sweep.
During obliteration, the homing energy keeps firing as well, which can be the most crushing death ever conceived.
Difficulty[]
The Arachnotron is one the hardest bosses of Sky Force Anniversary. Although the simple nature of the weapons is exploitable, the sheer length of the fight and great damage is quite a challenge. This also compounds on the several brand new weapons that aren't used anywhere else in the game, leading to poor experience.
Trivia[]
- Before fighting the boss, the player can see Arachnotron hanging in the hook just before the heavy gunship appears. Later, when the mysterious AI says "Release the Arachnotron." it will walk below and go up over the canyon waiting for the fight.
- The AI's portrait in the mobile version of the game depicts a mysterious creature with a mouth instead of the PC version's mouthless alien.
- Arachnotron has the biggest on-screen explosion of all bosses, topping the Mantis Heavy Tank. The Nasty Owl is technically bigger, but it only appears during the credits.
- At stage 5 of Sky Force Reloaded, the player can see the wreckage of the Arachnotron.
- However, although the boss was completely broken apart in the game it was featured in, its legs and weapons are still somehow attached to the body in Reloaded.
- Chronologically, the fight against Arachnotron is actually the beginning of the event in Sky Force Reloaded. The player can even see the wreckage when starting the prologue.