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Boss Strategy


By Danny Chihdo

Team Ninja and game-design guru Tomonobu Itagaki bring Xbox® gamers the completely rebuilt, Xbox Live™-enabled versions of the two games that came along before the Xbox launch title Dead or Alive® 3 in the new Dead or Alive® Ultimate™.

As you'll soon learn, after a few rounds through story mode,Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate-one half of the two-disc Dead or Alive Ultimate package - features literally dozens of unlockable costumes for the dazzling cast of fighters, including many that weren't available in Dead or Alive 3 or the originalDOA2, including the eye-popping get-ups of the female combatants, as first seen in the Xbox-only Dead or Alive® Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

But, you don't get the goodies if you can't get past the Tengu of Destruction, one ugly son of a gargoyle whose powerful attacks can flatten even the strongest challenger at a distance or up close.


To play Tengu, beat him in story mode … a lot.

According to the shockingly detailed Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate manual, Tengu collectively refers to a presumably mythical race of mountain-dwelling beast-people from Japanese folklore, often referred to simply as "goblins." But, inDOAU, the Tengu of Destruction is more like a rampaging ogre … with wings.

As ugly as he is, he's not unbeatable, of course. That's good thing, too, since you need to play through the story mode multiple times on the highest difficulty setting to unlock those swim suits—er, and costumes for Ryu, Ein, and those other guys.

The key to defeating Tengu is striking early, hard, and fast. If you stay in close, there's a chance he'll get you in a really nasty throw, flapping into the air with your stunned fighter and slamming him or her into the ground from a great height. You definitely don't want to get too far away, however, since that gives Big 'n' Ugly the chance to cut loose with a couple of different closers: the Season-Changing Elemental Winds Hurricane Thingy (no, I haven't a clue what the move is really called) and a repeat-hit flying swoop that's almost impossible to block.

The swoops will knock you back and give Tengu a chance to unpack the Hurricane. The move begins with a Tengu roar as he stomps on the earth and literally changes the seasons from winter to fall to summer to spring with each strike. As soon as he stomps, he'll arch his back and get ready to call the winds. If you're not in his face by then, you're in trouble. Charge as soon as you get knocked back, but odds are, once the Hurricane starts hitting you, you'll soon be down for the count. He's just nasty that way.


Ein must beat Tengu to get his memory back.

To unlock Tengu for play in Versus, Time Attack, Survival, andDOA Online modes, you need only beat the game in story mode with every starting character. It's not as tricky as it sounds, since you can actually do it on the Easy difficulty setting. As a combatant, Tengu is slow and strong, with complicated combo moves that, if mastered, can end a fight within seconds.

Even if you can't make the Tengu quite as devastating as his A.I.-controlled incarnation right off the bat (if ever—seriously, if anyone knows how to make Tengu do that "changing seasons" trick when under player control, e-mail kapnkvada@hotmail.com), the monster's more basic attacks are still damaging enough that he need only fear the truly lightning-fast fighters like Jann Lee.

When, as Tengu, you do run into a speed demon, go for blocks and reversals until you can get an opening for a powerful kick or slam. In fact, you'll probably find that Jann Lee is the biggest problem for Tengu when you're trying to unlock the goblin's insane alternate costumes.


Counter or reverse Tengu's slower attacks.

Don't forget, you can unlock even more costumes in Time Attack, Survival, and other modes. (In fact, for unlockable characters without story modes of their own, it's the only way.) And, don't be surprised if Tengu is the ugly obstacle between you and your last victory.


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