Sharkman

Sharkman (as named by Nintendo Power^[1]) is a minor boss character exclusive of the NES version Strider.

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Appears in Egypt and the Red Dragon.

Sharkman is a humanoid robot shark initially found in the Pyramid Base's underwater canal. Hiryu later finds and fights a second Sharkman inside Matic's Red Dragon, in a room with a small pool of water.

Sharkman has two distinct phases during battle: initially, it is entirely submerged and only its fin is visible. It will swim from right to left, emerging at times to shoot 3 spread bullets at Hiryu. During this phase, it can only be damaged when it comes out to attack, though one must avoid its fin when it returns underwater.

Once it receives enough damage, Sharkman jumps out of the water and attacks directly. It moves erratically, frantically walking and jumping all over the place while constantly shooting spread shots. While it is completely vulnerable in this phase, its movement is difficult to predict and any contact will hurt Hiryu, making him a deadly enemy.

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