This section covers all the boss fights you will encounter along the way to reclaiming the islands from the Snowmads. It does not provide in-depth strategy on how to defeat them, but it gives a quick description of them, including their fighting style, and a quick tutorial on how to systematically destroy each one. For a better description and the full scope of defeating the following beasts, check out the corresponding walkthrough chapters.
Island 1: Big Top Bop
You find yourself in a large arena made by the Snowmads, and the first boss they send out is Pompy, the Presumptuous, a giant sea lion sporting a horned helmet. The trend for bosses is that the first one is by far the easiest. That holds true here. You will be fighting on a half pipe, as Pompy slides on his belly back and forth, just begging for you to lay the smack down. Simply bop him on the back every time he passes to inflict damage. After every hit, he will throw fish and sea urchins. Bop the fish to gain items and dodge the urchins. Hit the boss enough and he will become enraged and change color. He will perform a roll move instead of a slide, which must be dodged. Keep this up to take him down quickly.
Island 2: Mountain Top Tussle
Round two of the Snowmads’ big bosses is the father of all owls: Skowl, the Startling. This guy is much tougher than his predecessor and has three noticeable stages. Skowl will throw many things at you, including his own feathers, and one of them is actually what you need to throw back at him. Once he drops eggs with baby owls inside at you, you must bop them, then throw them at the oversized brute. Hit him enough times and you will be pulled into the next round, which is on a windy platform. Continue the process until you get to the third area. It sounds terrible, but continue to throw the babies at the owl and eventually the Snowmad will be down for the count.
Island 3: Triple Trouble
Baboons are nothing if not mischievous, and these three stooges are no different. This trio, called Ba-Boom, the Boisterous, starts by swinging around, as baboons are wont to do; however, they twirl large mallets in their hands. Roll out of their way as best as you can to avoid their attacks, and eventually they will swing down low without a mallet. This is the time to Roll Attack them to knock them off their ropes. After that they will do a roll attack, which you must dodge. They knock themselves out, which opens the door for a bop over the buttocks. After one baboon goes down, the remaining two switch to bomb throwing. It goes without saying that the bombs need to be dodged. Use the Watermelon Fuse Bombs to inflict damage to bring the duo down to one. The ghosts of the alpha’s fallen bros will help throw bombs, but continue to throw the bombs to stop them from monkeying around.
Island 4: Fugu Face-Off
This blowfish may seem harmless by comparison; however, Fugu, the Frightening is by far the most difficult boss to defeat. Having to fight underwater means that your maneuverability is reduced, including the constant need for air bubbles. To add more bad news, the walls of the arena are lined with spiked hermit crab shells. This is upsetting, since the big blowfish will be sucking in water to get larger and to bring you in closer, then blow water out in attempts to smash you into the spiked walls. Bringing Dixie along is wise, as her propeller move makes swimming through the current much easier. Once the blowfish spins himself around, you must target his bare side devoid of spikes. Inflict more damage by Corkscrewing into the round fish he sends out so that the fish bounce back at the boss. This tactic will fully deflate him, allowing you to Corkscrew an extra time. Continue to dodge his attacks, collect the air bubbles and extra hearts when possible, while targeting the spikeless portion of the giant fish. Once you deal enough damage, the big fish will be permanently deflated.
Island 5: Punch Bowl
While the previous boss was tactically difficult, this boss fight is straight up savagery, to put it bluntly. You will be facing a freaking polar bear wielding a gigantic spiked hammer, called Bashmaster, the Unbreakable. It’s by far the most intense predicament so far. Besides the fight, the animation is the best so far in the game and should be appreciated—especially the animation when the Bashmaster swings and misses, allowing you a brief window to bop him over the head. He then loses his balance, falling backwards into the icy water below. He will then kick ice blocks at you, which may contain hearts, so Ground Pound them to recover the items and be ready for his next assault. Every time he swings his giant hammer, dodge and bop it to continue to bring the pain. He will also drop from the sky to send shockwaves of ice in your direction. When he slides on his butt, hop on the stacked blocks to hop over him. When he is dizzy bop him over the head for added pain. Bashmaster, the Unbreakable will ante up and smack ice blocks at you at great speeds. Continue the onslaught and you will conquer this adrenaline-fueled, hammer-loving polar bear.
Island 6: Volcano Dome
It has all come down to this enemy: Lord Fredrik, the Snowmad King. The one who ruined Donkey Kong’s birthday and blew out his only candle. The one who stole the Kong’s entire island and froze it in solid ice and snow. The beast that invaded the surrounding islands in order to take it as his own. You have defeated everything he has thrown at you up to this point, and it is now just between you and him—and whichever other Kong you intelligently decided to bring along. This final leg of the journey is a tough one and one that seems best to experience off the cuff. You may dislike me for doing this, but spoilers are not needed here, so from here on out you must go it alone. Unless you decide to find the answer in the walkthrough section of this guide. However, isn’t victory sweeter when you figure out how to win on your own terms? Although finding the answers is not a bad way to go either. Once you defeat this foul beast and have collected all of the ruin pieces from the temple levels you can access the secret island…but I have already said too much.