Gunstar Heroes: 2-in-1 Playthrough - Stage 4
5The last Mystical Gem, a round red ruby, is in Black's grasp, his fortress is located inside an industrial site. When the twins go into the fortress, they end up in the Dice Palace, where they must play a board game that will (hopefully) lead them to Black, himself.
In 2-Player Mode, one of the two characters have to throw the dice, which can be 1 to 3 steps. From there they take on many different challenges involving fighting strange enemies and bosses of various difficulty, puzzles that may or may not allow gun usage, and even the resourceful Happy Item Rooms.
In 2-Player Mode, one character isn't competing against the other. They just have to get through the game together ASAP, despite the challenges only supporting one character at a time. 1-Player Mode makes things go a bit faster because of this.
Once one of the Twins get to the end, so too does the other. They get to fight Black together since he's the main boss. He uses his own dice to travel along his color-coded arena, and sets off an attack based on what color his machine's left leg lands on. Just keep shooting him while dodging these attacks.
Once you eventually beat him, do NOT accept the first Gem he throws at you. IT'S A TRAP! You'll definitely know that it's a fake when it explodes hitting the ground. Whether or not you get hit by it, Black taunts you with a thumbs-up, looking at the fourth wall for tricking you. Smug little bastard.
Rough him up a bit more and he'll cough up the real Mystical Gem, thus completing the Stage and the first half of the game. I attacked Black more than I needed to, really.
That Standing Knee attack I've been doing is a secret powerful attack.
Follow this to use it: Back, Back+Down, Down, Forward+Down, Forward, Shoot. Think Street Fighter when trying to do this. It'll eat away at a boss' health/vitality faster than shooting it, and it's not really that hard to do.
I gotta say. This part was pretty fun.