Altered Beast/Round 4

Stage description
The fourth stage takes place in a lavish palace. While the setting has little in common with the previous stage, it's construction is quite similar, with various levels of platforms strewn about. Many enemies that you haven't seen since the first and second stage reappear here, and some are much stronger than before. In addition to all of the old enemies, one new one appear, the Hammer Demon, who attacks from above. Early shining wolves won't hesitate to race across the screen, so you'll need to be in position to attack them if you want to face the boss as early as possible.

Enemies

 * Returning enemies:Lascert Wolves, Slow Feet, Headless Horror, Grave Master, Skinny Oculus, Round Leech

Transformation
There is a surprising amount of similarity between the werewolf transform, and the tiger transform. Like the werewolf, the tiger has a projectile attack, and a full body charge. However, there are some distinct differences. The tiger's projectile attack does not travel straight, but rather in a wave motion that gets progressively wider the further it travels. Similarly, the tiger's body charge does not travel straight across either. Instead, the tiger launches himself upwards, and then he comes back just as quickly. While he does this, you have a limited amount of lateral control. Like the werewolf, the tiger turns his entire body into a weapon when he launches this attack. Use it to take out aerial enemies quickly.

Boss: Crocodile Worm
The Crocodile Worm is a boss which floats above the ground. It travels back and forth along an arc between the top of the screen and the lower right corner. It has two attacks. It frequently stops traveling along the arc and launches a row of flames from it's stomach. Even at its lowest, you can safely duck underneath the flames as they travel above the floor. Additionally, when it's near the top of the screen, it will release a small fire dragon from it's mouth.

The dragons are easily removed by using the Tiger's rising attack. Hitting the Crocodile Worm itself takes a bit more work. The projectile is effective against the boss, but it can not travel through the flames, so you need a clean shot to hit the worm. Alternatively, you can use the rising attack against it, although it's not easy to pull off. When you hit the boss after rising up, you will do damage, but you will also be halted from going all the way through the boss and back down. You can do the entire round trip if you graze the back of the boss while it's overhead, but this can be tricky to time.

Whichever attack you choose, it will take some time to defeat the boss, but it's low speed and predictability make it fairly easy to overcome without taking any damage.