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The Darkside is a Pureblood Heartless who can be found as a boss in most games in the Kingdom Hearts series.

Design[]

A Darkside is a massive, muscular, humanoid Heartless with black skin. Its legs are rather short and its feet are very thin and curl upward. Its arms are quite long, and it has two relatively small, twisted wings on its back. There is a large, heart-shaped hole in the Heartless's abdominal area, which penetrates straight through from the front to the back. Its head is covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles. Only its small, glowing yellow eyes are visible.

In Kingdom Hearts, the Darkside has a flap of skin where the heart-shaped hole on its body creases at the top, whereas in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories this flap of skin was removed for unknown reasons.

Strategy[]

Kingdom Hearts[]

The Darkside uses its size and strength to easily overpower opponents. It can punch the ground, creating a pool of darkness and summoning Shadows to assist it in battle. It can also fire blasts of dark energy from its chest. Its seemingly powerful desperation move involves pulling a dark energy orb out of the ground while causing a shockwave and launching it into the sky, causing it to disperse to the ground as smaller energy blasts.

First Battle[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The Darkside is an easy-medium boss, and can be defeated very quickly. In all three battles against the Darkside, the strategy for defeating it remains the same. Its weaknesses are its head and hands. This is simply a hack-and-slash battle, with no real strategy needed. Simply attack at every opportunity and avoid the Darkside's attacks. When the Darkside launches its dark missiles, time your attacks just right to send them hurling back, heavily damaging the Darkside as well as granting Tech points to yourself. Any deflected missiles grants you 1 Tech point, while every deflected missile that hits the Darkside grants you an additional 2 Tech points.

If you get low on health, defeat the Shadows that spawn, as they drop HP orbs. If you can climb Darkside's arm and attack its head, you gain tech points for every combo finisher landed.

Second Battle[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The strategy for the first battle can be used for the second battle.

When the Darkside scoops up the orb of Darkness, do not run around. The missiles will vanish when Guarded or attacked and will not make Sora recoil.

Third Battle[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The Darkside from this battle will act the same as the one from the second battle, so simply use the same strategies and the Heartless will fall.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories[]

First Batttle[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

This memory-based incarnation of the Darkside utilizes the same tactics as its Kingdom Hearts counterpart. Card Break are an easy way to avoid damage. Again, the player must attack the arms to deal damage, Sora having to jump in order for this to be done. If a Gimmick Card appears, a plank of driftwood will appear that Sora can hop upon and float up to the Darkside's head to deal extra damage, or when the Darkside is about to blast an orb from its body, one can use a Card Break to attack it before it escapes. Another way to attack the Darkside's head without using a Gimmick Card is to wait for it to summon Shadows (its arm will be immobilized then) and there will be an opportunity to attack its head. A combination of high-numbered Attack Cards as well as Cure Cards are recommended, along with Enemy Cards such as Jafar, Maleficent, Vexen and Card Soldier to make the battle easier.

It should be noted that Sleights should not be abused by Sora (or Riku), as missing with them wastes much-needed cards, and the player will eventually run out.

Second Battle[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The strategy above holds similar to Riku's battle with the Darkside. Riku can also utilize Dark Mode, Dark Firaga being the most reliable Sleight in his arsenal, considering he only has two. Dark Break can be used more commonly, but it will often miss, although it does have a tendency to hit the head.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the only difference is the Gimmick Card causes large plateaus to spawn.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
  • The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
  • The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Roxas is also faced with the Darkside, having Xion as a partner. Xion will mainly cast Fire spells from a distance, so focus on attacking the Heartless's hands. It utilizes all techniques from past encounters and the same tactics are able to be used in order to prevent most damage.

It is advised that the player Jump as much as possible to avoid the Darkside's devastating long-range shockwave attack, used after many of its tactics. Roxas should also be in constant motion to avoid the energy that rains down, using Block to deflect the energy balls back at the boss. This battle should not be too much of a difficulty.

Its attacks always follow a pattern, starting with summoning the Shadows and ending with the dark balls falling from the sky. The pattern goes on until it is defeated.

Kingdom Hearts Coded[]

Part 1[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside punches the ground and causes a few Shadows to be summoned.
  • The Darkside summons several Bash and Prize Blox.
  • Falling balls that cause confusion and make the control backwards.

During the first part, Darkside will punch the ground and summon a few Shadows. Attack the Shadows and damage the arm until the Heartless holds it back. Then Darkside will summon a Bash and Prize Blox that must be destroyed to raise the score. Dodge the balls that the Darkside summons to prevent your character from confusion.

Part 2[]

Attacks
  • Darkside shoots numerous blocks from his chest.

Darkside will shoot blocks from its chest from a distance, Dodge Roll is the easiest way to avoid damage. When Darkside punches the ground, destroy the Blox on its arm to stun the Heartless and its head should be wide open for attacking.

Part 3[]

Attacks
  • Bounces and spins towards your character.

In the last part of the battle, you will face against a Core Blox surrounded by a number of Bash Blox. When the enemy starts to bounce and spin towards you, use Dodge Roll to avoid it. Use the Fire commands to damage its core and the Bash Blox will separate itself from the enemy, leaving a space in the middle. Take this as an advantage to damage the enemy. However, move away when the blocks start to slow down from spinning as they will collapse to cause high damage.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded[]

First Form[]

Attacks
  • The Heartless will strike with its hand, and three Shadows will appear.

In this game, the Darkside has three forms. The first form is simple; the Darkside is out of reach from Data Sora, who stands on a cliff. The Heartless will strike with its hand, and three Shadows will appear. After it strikes the ground, attack its hand with physical and other attacks. After depleting its HP, it will take on a new form.

Second Form[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside strikes, releasing numerous bugged blocks upon contact with the ground, which deal damage to Sora.
  • The Darkside leans back and releases a barrage of orange blocks at Sora, throwing him back and dealing damage.

The Darkside will again strike, but this time, it will release numerous bugged blocks upon contact with the ground and they deal damage to Sora. To attack the hand, you must delete a layer of bugged bloxes which cover its hand. If you're not quick enough, the hand will turn transparent and you cannot land an attack on it. However, when you do, the Darkside will slump forward and its head will lay stunned, on the ground and open for attacks. After the punch, the Darkside will lean back and release a barrage of orange blocks at you, throwing you back and dealing damage. Dodge it by using Dodge Roll until you are close to the Darkside. After the barrage, it will resume its cycle of punching.

Third Form[]

Attacks
  • The Darkside hops around, each time releasing a small shock wave.
  • The Heartless turns into a swirling mass of blocks, which proves lethal if contact is made.

In its last form, the Darkside will become entirely invisible, nothing but a bunch of orange blox. In the center of the swirling mass, there is a purple blox, which represents the Darkside's health. Dodge Roll is useful for this, as the Darkside will hop around, each time releasing a small shock wave. Consequently, it will turn into a swirling mass of blocks, and prove lethal if contact is made. Dodge Roll is faster than running; it can avoid the Darkside's attacks. Soon, it will separate, and the purple block is wide open for attacks. But do not be idle with your time; it will close after some time. Destroy the block by repeating the process over and over.

Stats & Abilities[]


Gallery[]

Video Gallery[]







Trivia[]

  • Darkside holds a number of distinctions among bosses - it is the first boss to be fought in the series, the first boss to be fought twice in the series, and the first boss to be fought twice in a row in the series.
  • The Darkside battle shares many similarities with the Twilight Thorn, a gigantic Nobody. Both appear in Roxas and Sora's Awakenings, respectively, and are the first bosses of the game. Their Japanese names, Twilight Zone and Darkside, are both science-fiction horror serials.
  • The Darkside is the only Heartless boss to appear in every game. However, in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts II, it is only seen in cutscenes.
  • In the Kingdom Hearts IV trailer, Darkside looks different in Quadratum. It's head now has two big ears and an obvious mouth, replacing the tendrils; overall making it look like a movie gremlin.
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