You can encounter Gigantes final boss in Kirby Air Riders twice: the first time at the end of Stage 11, and the second time at the end of New Game+, which unlocks the true ending of the game. This guide will provide you with tips and tricks on how to beat Gigantes both times in the game, including the best machines, riders, and copy abilities that you need to use against it.
Gigantes Final Boss at Stage 11: The Farthest Reach
To reach Gigantes, the final boss in Kirby Air Riders story mode, fought at the end of Stage 11: The Farthest Reach, you must progress through the Road Trip mode’s randomized challenges until you beat the final form of Noir Dedede boss and arrive at the Gigantes location, where your machine awakens it involuntarily. Before you start the battle, it’s important to use machines with good air stats, such as Slick Star or Formula Star. When it comes to copy abilities, the best against Gigantes would be Fire, Spark, and Plasma.
The only way you can beat this massive machine boss is to destroy all of the glowing red weak spots on its body to deplete its health bar. If you try to hit it anywhere else except these weak spots, Gigantes will experience no damage whatsoever, so focus on the following areas of its body:
- Pay special attention to the high-up areas like the bridge and jet nozzles.
- In the bottom-left corner of your screen, you can actually track all the remaining spots on a special diagram, which shows the exact locations of red weak spots and their status.
- Use orange zones on the field to boost upward, then glide to Gigantes’ top and strike it.
- Once you destroy all the main red spots, the biggest glowing core at the front becomes the final target, so stay near an orange zone for easy hits.
- Be sure to avoid its attacks by distancing yourself from Gigantes, such as spinning attacks, ground slams, cannon shots, and laser sweeps.
Beating Gigantes unlocks Gigantes Legendary Machine Parts for City Trial. But if you also want to unlock the true ending, then you have to replay the story mode in New Game+, with all the machines collected. In that case, at the end, you’ll encounter the upgraded version of the final boss — Hyper Gigantes.
Hyper Gigantes True Ending Boss at Stage 11: New Game+
Hyper Gigantes is the powered-up true ending boss in New Game+, appearing at the end of Stage 11, but only if you’ve managed to collect all Air Ride machines. Here’s how exactly you can unlock this powerful boss:
- New Game+ becomes available as soon as you complete the Road Trip mode once.
- Collect all the machines that are available in New Game+.
- As soon as you reach the end of Stage 11, Gigantes will knock you off your machine, absorb all the collected machines, and ultimately become Hyper Gigantes.
Don’t worry, as you’ll be assisted during this boss fight by none other than Noir Dedede himself. He’ll bring along the two powerful machines, such as Dragoon and Hydra, but you can choose only one of them. Dragoon is an excellent flying vehicle, with high air speed and glide controls, while Hydra is a ground powerhouse, with a single-hit knockout ramming capabilities. Once you choose one of them, Noir Dedede will take the other one for himself. Then, follow these steps:
- Team up with Noir Dedede to deplete Hyper Gigantes’ massive health bar by ramming its weak glowing spots, similar to regular Gigantes.
- If you picked up Dragoon, use it for aerial dodges and quick boosts to higher weak spots with the help of orange zones for better lift-off.
- If you picked Hydra, use it for ground rams that will deal heavy damage to Hyper Gigantes’ lower weak spots.
- Pick up the same copy abilities as in the case with regular Gigantes: Fire, Spark, and Plasma.
- Dodge its enhanced attacks, such as spins, slams, cannons, and lasers, which are way faster and deadlier than the base Gigantes.
- Once all of his weak spots are destroyed, focus all your energy with Noir Dedede on destroying its main core.
A defeated Hyper Gigantes flips, and Noir Dedede merges with its core, then fuses Dragoon and Hydra machines to fire a laser at Galactic Nova, creating the Journey’s End road. As a reward, you unlock Noir Dedede as a playable rider character and watch the true ending cutscene.
