Clash at Demonhead/Route 7

Highlights

 * This route is home to one of the tougher bosses in the game, Flea Man.

Description
Assuming you arrived from the left, three small enemies will bounce down the stairs to greet you when you arrive. Remove them, and hop up the stairs. Shoot the sentry on the other side of the gap, and jump over. Another sentry will be waiting for you when you advance to the right.

When you reach the door to the building a few enemies will be bouncing around on the platforms above and around. Clear the area. Then before you step inside, be sure that you have plenty of Ultra-Food. It's a good idea to be as close to full health as possible before you enter.

Boss: Flea Man
Before the attack begins, you notice that the boss is particularly small. In response for saying so, he tells you that a buddy of yours is lying injured at the bottom of a cliff. You suspect that he's talking about Joe. Then the battle starts.

In his first phase, Flea Man can't hurt you. He will simply jump over when he gets close to you, but even if you make contact, you won't take any damage. You have to shoot him enough times until he grows in size. Once he does grow a little, his pattern stays the same. Shoot him more to increase his size.

When he grows a second time, he'll be around your height, but making contact with him still won't lead to any loss of health. He's easier to shoot at now, but be prepared. The next time he grows, he will lift off the ground and float in mid-air. While he floats, he will burp out smaller versions of himself that resemble his phase two self. These creatures can hurt you. Your goal should be to find a safe place on the ground where they will jump over you, squat down and fire at every one of them until he runs out of creatures.

When he runs out, he will drop down to the ground and begin his final phase of attack. He will run back and forth in the room, always jumping over you when he gets close. Except he won't jump very high, so if you're standing up, you'll take some damage. The only way to avoid getting hurt when he jumps is to squat down and crawl in the opposite direction of his jump. It is recommended that you stay in the middle of the screen, and be prepared to avoid his jump in both directions.

The only way to hurt Flea Man at this point is to shoot him in his mouth. Any higher or lower and your attack won't hurt him. In order to hit him consistently, stay just to the right of the middle of the screen and face left. When he runs from right to left, squat down and crawl right as he jumps over you. Then stand up and prepare to jump in the air when he gets close to the wall. As you are falling, shoot at just the right time to hit him in the mouse as he is running towards you. Then squat down again and crawl left as he jumps over you. Repeat this process until you successfully hit him in the mouth several times and defeat him. Collect the medallion he leaves behind and exit the room.

Game walkthrough
Your next goal will be to visit ../Route 15/, but you'll have to pass through several routes to get there, including ../Route 8/, ../Route 4/, ../Route 3/, ../Route 12/, and ../Route 20/. So to start, exit the building, and head to the left. Watch out for the bouncing enemies, the sentries, and the looping enemies that you'll encounter along the way. Access ../Route 8/, climb up and over the pit and jump to the ground on the left. Then access ../Route 4/ from the intersection.