MIRROR FORMS

Sometimes in games you will find enemies that are difficult to kill, hard to beat in a race,
or just annoyingly clich. And then you come up against yourself. You know that you are,
in fact, the 1st person POV character, and that you have not suddenly jumped out of the
character and are now looking, rather confusedly, at yourself. Well, technically you are, but
Ill get on to that. This strangely recognisable character in front of you is a technologically
evolved/naturally manipulated/nuclear disaster/mysterious spell-bound character, designed by
the arch-nemesis, to represent you. Therefore, as they have all of your abilities in the
ring, so to speak, and probably wield a better weapon or special move, you end up fighting
a seemingly impossible battle against yourself. But on steroids. The Shadow Form boss battle is where you come across a copy of your own character, which has been designed on
you, and set loose in order to destroy you. They will basically be your character, but with
slight differences appearance-wise. The mirror form bosses are often sent to test the protagonist, or simply just to act as a barrier for some elaborate getaway. The idea is that
you overcome your own self, which takes a moral route on the whole story of the game.

DARK LINK
Glowing red eyes
Darker appearance
Dimmed weapon design
Equal in ability

Take for example Dark Link, whom you will end up

fighting somewhere along the line in your course
through the Twilight of Zelda series. He is
recognisable because he looks exactly like Link. But,
he has darker clothes, faded weapons, and piercing
red eyes. Creepy, I know. Dark Link is a classic
example among many or the mirror boss, and
the concept is quite simple to grasp. These bosses
are typically stronger or faster than you, and will
have a better sword, gun or car. In Dark Links
case, you may also have to defeat multiple copies
of the boss. The way to defeat them typically is
by discovering your characters own weaknesses,

which have fortunately been copied into the mirrors design, and using this knowledge to
get the upper hand. Dark Link serves no master, and it is not known whether his copies
have a separate consciousness. He will detatch himself from Links shadow, meaning hes
been there the whole time, which is unnerving.

DARK SAMUS
Dark Samus is another example of how corruption of goodness can create evil. Dark Samus
was created from the original zero suit, then merged with Phazon energy, so you know
the boss itself will be equal to, if not more powerful than yourself. She can, like most of

these doppelganger forms, be defeated by one of your own

weapons, at opportune moments during the fight scene.
Dark Samus has made an appearance in every game in the

Metroid series, and is able to recreate most of Samus

attacks, including some more powerful beam attacks,

Similar weaponry
Equal in ability

and of course the morph ball, which has an eyeball

on either side. You can normally expect there to be
three kill attempts during the fight, as in any boss
fight, but with these guys it just seems more personal

Blue tinge
Powerful pose

METAL SONIC
Metal Sonic makes an appearance in many of
the Sonic Games, and is always an antagonist as
far as story is concerned, however in Rivals 2 he
can be played in a protagonist role as an extra.
Brought

back from the future to change the past

for Eggman, Metal Sonic is expected to be a

formidable opponent for Sonic, as he has all of
Sonics abilities, plus various robotic advancements.
However, as a robot, like all of the mirrored bosses,
Metal Sonic fails because he just isnt Sonic; he just
isnt the real deal. This robitic supplicate will even
mimic Sonics cheeky finger wave.

LARAS DOPPELGANGER
Laras Doppelganger, shown here in both original and modern forms,
appears in three games as an equal to Lara herself, with identical
movement and ability. In Anniversary,
Doppelganger has no weapon to speak of,

Glowing golden eyes

though if you were to shoot at her, Laras

Angry appearance

own health would go down. Also known as

Identical to Lara

Bacon Lara, this interesting mirror boss

character has unknown motive, and is
therefore classed as an Atlantean creature,
but Underworld contradicts this, as

Mysterious veiny skin

Dark clothing
Destructive weapon

Doppelganger is created by Natla, destroying

at the command word. Eventually however, in
the DLC Laras Shadow, Lara manages to co-operate
with Doppelganger; she goes back to her place of birth,
destroys Natlas regeneration chamber, watches with a
smile as Natla herself drowns in a pool of eitr.