With Shinobu, No More Heroes’ tone straightens up for a moment, perhaps hinting at a little something more than zany antics under the surface. But there’s only so much room for that, and the next boss is a postal worker who becomes Destroyman, an evil superhero who shoots lasers from his crotch.
The setup here is silly, but that doesn’t mean you can relax. Destroyman’s attacks are loudly telegraphed, but if you get sloppy it doesn’t take many mistakes to earn you a loss.
Destroyman hits hard, but really isn’t that much of a challenge. He’s nice and slow, and yells out his attacks like a Pokemon. So as long as you aren’t being careless you’ll make it through just fine.
Unlike most of the bosses until now, you can even hit Destroyman more than two or three times, and even stun him regularly for a suplex.
No More Heroes Boss Guide: How to Beat Destroyman
The different attacks Destroyman has have very different properties, but he announces all of them. You’ll also see the character physically telegraph what he’s about to do, which gives you even more time to react if you’re paying attention.
For Destroy Cannon, he’ll charge up like he’s about to throw a fireball, so just dodge to the side when he throws his hands back out. If he extends his arm like he’s about to shoot Mega Man pellets, he’s going to produce an area of electricity around his hands that lingers for a bit.
If that hits you with Destroy Spark it’s a knockdown, but you can dodge it well enough. It’s also possible to knock Destroyman out of that one with a fully-charged punch if you time it right, netting you a stun and a free suplex.
Another move sees Destroyman leap and then smash the ground, producing a shockwave you can dodge through. Finally, a yellow glow tells you Destroy Beam is coming, which you can either try to get around or block at the expense of your battery.
Whenever you avoid one of Destroyman’s moves, if you’re close enough you can get a good five or six hits in, and maybe even a suplex if you’re careful and don’t miss his stun state. If you try to hit him while he’s stunned he’ll block, forcing you to back off.
Go through this process a few times and a new phase will start, in which Destroyman activates a wiring system to float up in the air and shoot at you. You’ll see a series of yellow lights start up on the opposite side of the arena, and you’ll want to run and break those until the right one sends Destroyman back to the ground.
After you clip his wings, Destroyman will add the Destroy Buster to his repertoire, telegraphed with a blue color when he charges instead of a yellow. This laser will shoot forward, but then sweep the area in front of Destroyman.
Depending on where you’re standing you can outrun it, but you can also dodge through it if you need to. Getting hit by Destroy Buster will take like a third of your health, so… don’t get hit.
Once you get to that last phase, it’s a simple matter of rinse and repeat until you get the killing blow. Destroy Buster is Destroyman’s last trick, or at least the last one you have to deal with in gameplay terms.
Once you beat him, you’re almost at the halfway point! Your journey to the top of the ladder is really going to escalate from here.
Related: No More Heroes Boss Guide: How to Beat Shinobu
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