The Obscurest Chiaroscurist
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Fight your way to the exit.
| Site | Happiness Research Lab | |||
| Fee |  No Fee
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| Lives | 3 | |||
| Weapons |
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| First-time Clear Rewards |
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| Subsequent Clear Rewards |
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| Music | Surprise and Shine |
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StrategyWiki has an article about: The Obscurest Chiaroscurist |
| “ | The Hype Manta Storm Big Man |
” |
— Intro to Big Man's boss fight.
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The Obscurest Chiaroscurist is the fourth boss mission in Return of the Mammalians.
Boss appearance
The boss is Big Man, who, unlike Frye and Shiver, does not rely on other allies; instead, he fights Agent 3 by himself by transforming into a large silhouette of a manta ray that leaves behind turquoise and yellow-green ink dotted with yellow Deep Cut logos.
Walkthrough
Big Man covers himself in his ink, then creates a giant blue shadow of himself that leaves a trail of ink as it moves.
First Phase
When hit enough, the shadow splits and will continue to split if continuously hit with ink; if left alone, the shadows fire projectiles similar to charged Tri-Stringer shots, drop Splat Bombs, or even use Splashdown and Reefslider. The shadows may occasionally become invisible as well, although they can still be tracked by their ink trails or the Hero Gear's Squid Sensor upgrade (the latter having the advantage of marking which shadow is the real Big Man: fake shadows will have a yellow icon, like an enemy, Big Man himself is marked with a red icon, like the goal). Among the shadows, one of them is the real Big Man. If the player hits a fake shadow when it is at its smallest possible size, an Octopod will be launched out of it and explode. Defeating the real shadow will reveal Big Man, leaving him vulnerable.
Second Phase
The shadows will become more aggressive and will attack more frequently. The Tri-Stringer attack will also gain increased range and fire more projectiles at once. The shadows will also split into more copies and may explode in a twister, so the Squid Sensor should be used to quickly identify and eliminate Big Man.
Third Phase
Four ledges will now rise out of the ground, making it more difficult to dodge Big Man's attacks. The shadows will also begin to use Torpedoes and Fizzy Bombs. Otherwise, it is virtually the same as his second phase, with no other new attacks added.
Enemies and Mechanics
First Introduced
Previously Introduced
Quotes
English
English
O.R.C.A.'s Quotes
| “ | Unauthorized personnel prohibited beyond this point. | ” |
Agent 1's Quotes
- During the battle:
| “ | Oh! His actual body is out! Strike now, Agent 3! | ” |
| “ | Whew! Nice splatting. | ” |
| “ | He's out again! Let 'em have it, Agent 3! | ” |
- After the battle:
| “ | Well, it's not Gramps... but we should probably grab this thing anyway since we fought for it. | ” |
Agent 2's Quotes
- Before the battle:
| “ | Hm. Hmmm! Our Captain is picking up a strong signal! "It might be Ex-Captain Cuttlefish!" | ” |
- Before the battle (rematch):
| “ | Hm? Hmmm... "The energy in here... He must be back for more!" That's what the Captain is saying, anyway. | ” |
- During the battle:
| “ | The shadow is splitting up! | ” |
| “ | He's out again! Get 'em, Agent 3! | ” |
| “ | That's it! Keep it up! | ” |
| “ | The Captain's cheering you on! "Great job, Agent 3!" | ” |
Big Man's Quotes
- Before the battle:
| “ | Ay! (Hold it right there!) Aaay! (This treasure isn't yours! You can't have it!) Aaay... (I wouldn't fight you if I didn't have to, but...) AAAY! (THIS IS FOR SPLATSVILLE!) | ” |
- Before the battle (rematch):
| “ | Ay! (You're back!) Aaay? (You want to fight me? Again? Really?) Aaay... (Still not a big fan of fighting, but...) Aaay! (The other two will yell at me if I run away!) | ” |
- During the battle:
| “ | Aaay! (Check out my sweet moves!) | ” |
| “ | Aaay? (Can you guess which me is the REAL me?) | ” |
| “ | Aaay... (You're pretty good...) Aaay! (But I won't lose!) AAAY! (I've been training TOO HARD to lose!) | ” |
| “ | AAAY! (Watch me slink through this ink!) | ” |
| “ | Aaay... (You've got moves, it's true...) Aaay! (But I've got... uh... MORE MOVES!) AAAY! (No more kid gloves. It's Big Man time!) | ” |
| “ | Aaay? (No hard feelings when you lose, OK?) | ” |
- After the battle:
| “ | Ay... (Oof...) AAAY! (Well, that was a flop.) Aaay... (I really tried too!) Ay-ay-ay. (Ay-ay-ay.) | ” |
Gallery
Entering the stage
The battle introduction
Big Man's ink color in Return of the Mammalians.
Big Man when Color Lock is enabled.
End screen for the first clear of the stage, featuring a part of the Treasure
End screen for subsequent clears of the stage, featuring a silhouetted part of the Treasure
Trivia
- The boss battle with Big Man is a reference to the boss battle with Phantamanta in Super Mario Sunshine. Besides having a similar appearance of a splitting silhouette of a manta ray, the color of the ink Big Man leaves is also identical to the electric goop Phantamanta leaves (albeit with Deep Cut's symbol). His title, "The Hype Manta Storm", is also a reference to the mission, "The Manta Storm", where Phantamanta is fought.
- His titles in the Japanese, French, German, and Italian versions also reference the Super Mario Sunshine mission.
- Some differences include: Phantamanta needs its all shadows defeated to clear the mission, Phantamanta is pink while Big Man is blue, and it doesn't attack directly, but with its electric goop.
- Similarly to the final bosses of Octo Valley and Octo Canyon, some of the character dialogue changes on repeat playthroughs.
- Big Man's ink color has the Deep Cut logo similar to Shiver's and Frye's ink colors.
- The background of his fight has a shinboku, a tree used as a yorishiro that attracts deities in Shintoism. It's distinguished from a regular tree by its shimenawa, decorated with shide.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
オルタナに封印された、強い心。それは…。 Orutana ni fūinsareta, tsuyoi kokoro. Sorewa.... |
A strong heart sealed away in Alterna. That is… |
 Dutch |
Schaduwschurkenstreken Vecht je een weg naar de beveiligde deur. |
Shadow scoundrel tricks Fight a way to the protected door. |
 French (NOE) |
La tempête delta Fraie-toi un passage jusqu'à la porte. |
The delta storm Clear yourself a way to the door. |
 German |
Silberglanz und Silhouetten Erreiche das Tor! |
Silvery shine and silhouettes Reach the gate! |
 Russian |
Беспросветные полутени Доберитесь до двери. Besprosvetnye poluteni Doberites' do dveri. |
Hopeless penumbras[note 1] Reach the door. |
 Spanish |
El más oscuro claroscuro Atraviesa la puerta de seguridad. |
The darkest chiaroscuro Walk through the security gate. |
 Chinese (Simplified) |
被封印在幻界的坚强之心，那就是…… Bèi fēngyìn zài huàn jiè de jiānqiáng zhī xīn, nà jiùshì…… |
A strong heart sealed in Alterna, that is... |
 Chinese (Traditional) |
被封印在幻界的堅強之心，那就是…… Bèi fēngyìn zài huàn jiè de jiānqiáng zhī xīn, nà jiùshì…… |
A strong heart sealed in Alterna, that is... |
 Korean |
얼터너에 봉인된 강인한 마음. 그것은... eolteoneoe bong-indoen gang-inhan ma-eum. geugeos-eun... |
A strong heart sealed in Alterna, that is... |
Translation notes
- ↑ The word "беспросветный" "besprosvetnyy" ("hopeless") also means "impenetrable", "pitch-dark".
