Duration: 17:35

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This is the version with no commentary
COMMENTATED VERSION: https://youtu.be/yB3TY-Yc9Mw
This video shows my first successful run of X Challenge Stage 2 on Volume 1.

2-1 My strategy is to bring the Aiming laser and move back and forth. This will trigger Storm Owl to spawn on one side of the screen or the other (Listen for the sound of him flapping his wings). Then hit him with the Aiming Laser. Switch briefly to another weapon and back to the Aiming Laser to reset the position of the aiming cursor to be able to quickly catch Owl if he spawns at ground level. This makes it easier to master the fight without having to deal with the bad controls of the weapon.

2-2 Climb up to a corner and stay there while charging the Spinning Blade. Fire the weapon when Tiger is either below you or flying to you in front. If you dropped down for whatever reason and you need to climb back up the wall, make sure you don't do it while Pegasus is too close to the wall. Otherwise you'll bump into him while climbing. DO NOT COLLIDE WITH PEGASUS! When Tiger goes berserk, switch to the other wall if necessary. Then repeat the same strategy as before. The difference with him going berserk is that now you might have to improvise a bit. Once Pegasus is alone, the only danger is if he decides to fly off-screen to fly at you from different angles. Listen to the sound effect to try to react to which way he's going to come from. Attack him quickly with medium charge shots to dispose of him.

2-3 This is one of the worst / most frustrating to me, and the unique battle to Stage 2 in Volume 1. Kraken keeps trying to tackle you while Shelldon goes apeshit all over the room. You do NOT want to get hit by ANYTHING Shelldon does. As you'll see from my mistakes in this video, the damage he does is insane.
My strategy is as follows:
Bring the Chameleon Sting. I don't like the Goo Shaver as it's hard to use and gives Kraken too many i-frames. You need to get rid of Kraken fast in my opinion. And my other weapon slots are taken for the other two fights.
Start off by firing charged buster shots at Kraken while he remains fairly calm and doesn't move horizontally
When Shelldon throws the shells like boomerang, stay ducked and try to keep damaging Kraken with medium charged shot or fully charged one.
Shelldon always alternates between his shell boomerang attack and one of those 3 attacks:
- Bouncing Shell - He bounces around the room in his shell, Armadillo style. [To dodge this, go to the lower right corner of the room (Avoid the lower left corner)]
- Dual Bouncing Shell - Same as the above but with two shells in a symmetrical fashion. [To dodge, go to the lower right corner of the room (Avoid the lower left corner)]
- Dual Shell Smash - He teleports to ground level right next to you, with a clone of himself on the other side & tries to hit you with his shell at close range. [To dodge, try to stay in the center and simply jump. Do NOT move horizontally.]
Keep trying to quickly attack Kraken with medium charged shots until he is close to 1/2 health. All while doing your best to dodge Shelldon's attacks.
Once Kraken is close to 1/2 health, start charging the Chameleon Sting. Do it by pressing the button from the pause menu to avoid wasting ammo. You have exactly enough for 4 uses of the invincibility mode. If you fire ONE stray uncharged Chamelon Sting, you'll only have 3 uses of the invincibility mode.
Activate invincibility when you have a clear shot at Kraken at ground level, then mash the buster to damage him as much as you can before your invincibility runs out. You might have to duck to hit him if he decides to create electricity on the ground.
If Kraken goes to the sides to perform his ultimate attack, do your best to fire your buster shots at him. You can hit him from the apex of your jump or by climbing the wall. If you see he's going for these side attacks while your next invincibility is ready, wait for him to come back down before activating invincibility. It is crucial that you damage Kraken fast enough before you are overwhelmed.
With Kraken down, keep dodging Shelldon and attacking him when you have an opportunity.
When Shelldon is below 1/2 health, your biggest damage opportunity is when he uses the Guard Shell. But watch out for the counter shots. You can see I got hit by one here. One more and I was dead.
When he uses the 4-Shell attack, personally I don't wanna risk trying to hit him. I just duck and wait for the attack to end. If you accidentally hit the shells, they'll counter-fire at you and he moves too fast to risk getting hit by colliding with him. If you somehow made it here with the Metal Anchor, Shelldon becomes a joke since you can cancel everything he does.

Hard Mode bosses deal more damage (especially collision damage) and they take less damage as well. You have to practice and learn how the bosses work. A lot.

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