Crystal Jizō (クリスタル地蔵 Kurisutaru Jizō) is the first boss in TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō. He is a giant traveling monk's statue made of crystal who guards the Air Island floating fortress.
Description[]
Boss in charge of guarding the Air Island floating fortress created by the Demon King Poko Poko.
Despite having the usual traits of a Jizō statue, such as bearing a shaved head, wearing a robe and carrying a staff, for some reason he also dresses as a punk, wearing a black leather jacket with spikes, chains and sunglasses.
Attack patterns[]
Crystal Jizō bounces left and right in a repeated manner. When he lands on the ground, he causes a small shake, making the crystal stalactites above him to break, with the crystal debris falling on the player.
Once the boss has sustained enough damage, he'll split into two smaller version of himself. These will follow the exact bouncing patterns, although in a synchronized manner.
And if that wasn't enough, each of these two statues will split again, into four small statues this time. They will now rotate in a clockwise pattern, still bouncing, but because of their smaller sizes and their lighter weight, they will not cause the stalactites to fall, but they will compensate by shooting salvos of bullets at the player. They will still need a good amount of shots in order to be destroyed for good.
Trivia[]
- Jizō (or Kṣitigarbha) is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk with a shaved head and holding a staff. Statues of him are popular in traditional Japanese culture.
- Jizō statues sometimes can be seen in other Konami games, such as in the Ganbare Goemon and Parodius series, where they appear in some specific areas.