Master Core, the True Final Boss of Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U is perhaps the most terrifying thing in this entire series. To get to it, you have to play Classic Mode on 5.1 Intensity or higher. You'll come across a path separate from Master Hand where it appears you'll be facing Master Hand and Crazy Hand. Choose that path, and you'll be facing a more intense battle between the hands, and the battle proceeds as normal, and then you do enough damage to Master Hand. Then… something goes horribly wrong. Crazy Hand suddenly disappears while Master Hand floats to the center of the stage, and the hand writhes and convulses before exploding open. A black mist fills the stage, comes together, and at long last, we see Master Core. You see that monstrosity at the top of the page? That's what you'll be facing. This shapeshifting abomination is the first true SNK Boss for Super Smash Bros., and it's horrifying and difficult from the beginning of the fight to the very end. For every significant hit you land, it sprays a bloodlike fluid for a few moments. Plus, the black, perpetual writing substance it commands, known as The Swarm, covers up its name and percentage on the touch screen on the 3DS. Oh, and if you play on 8.0 or higher Intensity, you're forced to take this path and you MUST fight it.note It goes From Bad to Worse in the Wii U version: because you have no options for the final stage, as long as you're on 5.1 or above, you have to fight Master Core no matter what (at least, unless you are defeated and the intensity level drops to 5.0 or below).Have fun and sweet dreams! The boss has multiple forms depending on the Intensity you're playing on. The higher it is, the more forms there will be. At the highest intensities, here's what you'll face:
Master Giant is the first form to materialize. It is a giant humanoid shadow golem that spurts out two extra arms. It's powerful and can even pick up the stage and send you straight into some energy blasts. It can also lift the stage so you can't get back on while the energy balls above make it difficult lasting up there. To say nothing of its shockwave attack, where the golem starts shaking violently before letting out a chilling scream that can push you right off the stage. Before unleashing its energy wave attack, it will grab its head and shake erratically. It clenches its chest and shudders before forming two extra arms to grab your character(s), and recoils as it withdraws them. One of its attacks even involves forming a huge, tumor-like growth on its head, which the golem struggles to support… before slamming the head onto the stage and unleashing plus-shaped X bombs.
Next up is Master Beast. It is a quadruped beast with a scorpion-like tail, which can also topple the stage and throw it out of balance as it jumps around, as well as temporarily go into the background and then charge straight onto the stage, chomping your character, usually knocking them away.
The third form it assumes is Master Edges (Master Sabres in the PAL version), which consists of five swords that can do lots of damage pretty quickly, easily comboing your character and juggling them.
Following that is Master Shadow, a giant-sized version of your character in the same shadow-like mist, turning the match into a Mirror Boss.
Master Fortress, which is an exclusive form in the Wii U version, fought when Classic Mode is at Intensity 8.0 or higher. Imagine Race to the Finish from Smash 64 and Melee except with Master Core becoming a sentient, biological castle, complete with internal veins along the walls and what appears to be stomach acid! Additionally, it has some sort of self-defense mechanism with Smash Run enemies that look like different versions made out of the Swarm. Even what appears to be its immune system tries to destroy you. It was already terrifying enough when it didn't have a biology! Also to note at when you enter it you can hear its heartbeat and it gets faster as you destroy its multiple weakpoints. Oh, and the stomach acid is actually a Danger Zone, so if you hit it at over 100%, you're boned. What makes it even worse is the fact that some weakpoints represent a human's biology. The first one is approximately where the trachea is located. The second, the stomach. The third is be the part where the spine joins with the skull.
Remember that since the original N64 game, Master Hand has been implied to be the hand of a child. A child whose internal organs you are now tearing apart.
And finally, the Master Core itself: the last form just looks like a bigger Smash Ball. There's seemingly no time limit, and all you have to do is rack up enough damage to send it off stage...in 45 seconds. Wait any longer, and it'll actually rise up and perform one last ditch effort to put you away. But if you manage to dodge its attack, it'll actually self-destruct. And, if you listen closely after you destroy Master Fortress' final weak point, you can hear something that sounds like screaming.
The upshot of it all is that there is noexplanation whatsoever for justwho or what on earth Master Core is in the context of the Smash universe nor of its connection to Master Hand. Tabuu and Galeem and Dharkon at least have some explanation and context for what they are, where they come from, and what they have to do with anything. Master Core? No such explanation is given nor is it ever brought up again despite how jarring and seemingly very important it seems to be, not even in the following game (without counting cameos as Spirits which doesn't offer much explanation anyway).
The music as you're fighting this… thing, is eerie, creepy, dire, and tense. It gives you the feeling that you REALLY should not lose. It's essentially the main theme of the game, but all corrupted, and it sounds… wrong. There's one part of the track that sounds like a cassette tape played in reverse, among the next part, where a single wail is going out of control, before stopping abruptly. And, here is the best part: Nearly two minutes into this wonderfully chaotic track, it goes silent for a bit, and there's some beeping. It's morse code, and it spells out "Master Core." What's more is that the instrumentation that builds up during that part sounds almost like a cassette tape being played in reverse.
The challenger approaching sequence is toned down to be much less sudden and scary (Unlike Melee and Brawl). Now it has ample warning (As the screen darkens) and the background is less crude and more artistic. Although it still uses the loud, panicky and rumbling siren from Brawl. Which might trigger those who were traumatized by Brawl's sequence when they were younger.
From 3DS's Smash Run, the Orne, much like the Ultimate Chimera in Brawl, does a One-Hit KO. While the Chimera is simply a goofy-looking magenta lion-like creature, the Orne looks a little less goofy◊.
, it'll actually self-destruct. And, if you listen closely after you destroy Master Fortress' final weak point, you can hear something that sounds like screaming.
