Kingdom Hearts I Boss Strategies

In this topic, I shall cover basic, yet useful strategies for every boss in the first installment of the Kingdom Hearts series on the PS2. These are all strategies that I have fashioned myself, and are not all capable of No Damage challenges. This is merely a reference guide for those here who feel helpless against certain bosses and want a simple strategy centering mostly around preparation. Most of these strategies recommend you pick the Staff/Shield combination in the beginning of the game, but I'll try my best to make do without certain techniques.

#1 - Darkside I
The first boss of the game takes very little skill to beat, but depending on which weapon you chose to start with, you may have extra and unexpected effort. With the Dream Sword or Dream Staff, the battle is typically easy since you have a longer reach and extended hitbox, which helps to net some extra EXP, but we'll get to that in a bit.

The boss starts off by charging up his fist and pounding the ground, which covers very little space, and doesn't deal very much damage. The pool that emits from the boss's hand emits Shadow Heartless, which you can destroy to get some HP back if you need it. While Darkside's fist is planted on the ground, you have two options, either to whack away at his wrist, which is a faster way to win, but you can also climb his arm and attack his head, which gives you 2 Tech Points (EXP) per finishing hit, which can give you a level up before the battle is over. You can get in about 3, possibly 4 three-hit combos before Darkside will move his arm and you'll fall to the ground.

The only other attack the boss has is to kneel on the ground and shoot dark fireballs from his chest. This is where your weapon choice affects the battle. You can deflect these back at the boss if timed right, but can be difficult if you chose the Dream Shield, since the reach is shorter, but it can still be done. Each deflected fireball will grant you 2 Tech Points, so try to deflect as many as you can. After 3 single bursts, the boss will fire 3 simultaneously, and all can be deflected. The next time the boss uses this move, he'll fire 3 instead of single bursts, and then 5 when he would have fired 3. they can all still be deflected, but with some effort put into timing.

The boss shouldn't take long enough for you to reach the second fireball barrage, but in case it does, just rinse, lather and repeat until the boss falls. This strategy repeats in each of the versions the boss appears. Except, he gets a new technique every time you fight him along the story, which will be explained down the road.


#2 - Riku
Not technically a boss, but I know people who had trouble in this battle. Riku has a predictable pattern in his strategy, you just have to wait him out for most of his techniques. Clashing blades when Riku leaps forward is a decent way to stun him, but I suggest dodging the attack and then countering with a combo. Riku's only dangerous move is a counter which also has a pattern. Every 5 hits, Riku will be knocked on his back, but he'll quickly leap forward and hit anything standing in front of him within spitting distance, so simply count how many hits you're racking up and keep yourself from locking into a combo so you can avoid the damage. Occasionally Riku will only take two hits before falling on his back, but only around when his HP is low. This optional boss is infinite, so you can fight him as many times as you want and rack up Potions if you think you'll need them.


#3 - Tidus, Wakka and Selphie
Also optional, but still a challenge sometimes. Your first target should be Selphie, since she covers the battlefield pretty quickly and she covers decent range and not to mention, she's annoying. You should start by stunlocking her by waiting for her to kneel down and leap forward. Clash your sword with her nunchaku and she'll be open for about 5 seconds, more than enough for a good combo and also netting you a Tech Point. Selphie can become dangerous if she shouts, "You ready?", because she'll start twirling her rope around her rope, which can still stunlock, but the timing is much stricter. Keep this up while dodging Tidus' onslaught and Wakka's trebuchet action until Selphie falls.

Next, you should focus on Tidus, since he's close range and almost as predictable as Selphie. You can do one of two things, one is to simply dodge all of Tidus' attacks about 6 times and he'll moan and sit still for about 5 seconds, or you can clash blades with him when he does a horizontal slash which will stunlock him enough to hit him with a combo and good for 2 Tech Points. Tidus will occasionally do a backwards somersault technique which can be clashed to avoid damage or you can move to the side, but you can't stunlock him by blocking this.

Last is Wakka, who is the most predictable and most exploitable of the three. Any attack where he throws his ball can be deflected back at him and will always stunlock him if the deflect makes contact. The regular throws will give you a Tech Point, but if you deflect the faster and trickier attack which is signaled by him yelling, "Take this!" will give you 2 Tech Points, but you need to be quick. I suggest standing still before attacking to deflect his attacks, otherwise you might do a horizontal slash, which has a smaller hitbox. The only attack you can't deflect is a spin attack he does if you get too close to him, but it's easy to dodge, so as long as you keep your distance you shouldn't have to worry about it. Once they're all down, you'll get a Potion for every attempt.


#4 - Darkside II
The only difference between this battle and the first is a little more HP, Strength and Defense, and a new attack. The new attack is where Darkside will lay to the ground and slam his arm into the ground which will spread a nova around the battlefield, so jump right as his arm is halfway to the ground. This will leave his head open for attack for about 3 combos worth, afterward, he will pull out a fireball-looking thing which is lethal to the touch so...just don't touch it. He'll leave his wrists open for attack for a couple combos and then he'll shoot the fireball into the sky and little dark fireballs will rain from the sky gradually for a little while. They don't do much damage, but they'll interrupt your combos. After all that, repeat the first strategy. You still get Tech Points in this battle, so hack away.

(Will finish later, I promise. Great thing are done slowly.)