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In the Kronos Island of Sonic Frontiers is a towering enemy named Asura. This Asura Guardian is not the first Guardian of the game, but it is likely to be the first one you’ll come across that can’t be simply beaten with homing attacks. Asura will demand a player climb.
Fighting this towering enemy will seem simple at first, but a wrong move can immediately kill you and throw you right back to the beginning of the fight. There’s also a little secret within Asura that will prove useful to a player who needs Portal Gears.
First Arm
The way to damage the Asura Guardian is by attacking the three spikes at the very top. In the first phase of the fight, Asura will effectively help you in its demise by slamming down one of its arms in an attack that is easy to dodge. While the hand is in contact with the ground, blue rings will come down. They are speed boosts, and all Sonic has to do is run into them to gain enough momentum to run to the top. The spikes are guarded by three red barrier lines, and there is an opening that spins around that Sonic can run through for safety in the middle. If Sonic went through enough speed boosts, though, he could end up going so high that he’ll go directly over the barrier.
Either way, be careful in your timing of the homing attack, as Sonic may end up zooming right into the barrier and not just taking damage but flying far enough that he goes back to the ground. There is no fall damage, but you will have to run back up. In a few hits, the spike will be destroyed, and the arm will go with it.
Second Arm
Asura will again try to squish you with its arm, but this time when it sends down the blue speed boosts, there will also be a wall of red rings at the very bottom. They will not hurt Sonic. Instead, they bounce him backward, preventing him from running up to the Asura in time. These rings will make a barrier, so it’s best to jump over them with the boost button. There are no more red rings in this phase, so simply run up the arm with the blue rings and go for the attack on the second spike. Like the first, its destruction will take the arm too. This second phase is not all that different from the first, but for the third phase, things will noticeably change.
Third Arm
Asura stops messing around this time. With its final phase, there are now red rings all over the arm that Sonic will have to navigate around. Again they will not hurt, but the bounce back is far more likely to undo all of your progress and send you right back to the bottom. Once you do manage to avoid the red rings and boost your way to the top, you’ll see that the barrier guarding the last spike is tighter. Jumping into the barrier or walking through the gap is more dangerous and likely to damage you now, so the best recommendation is to either end the fight quickly or stay above the barrier while you combo. Once this final spike has been destroyed, the Asura will crumble, and you can take its Portal Gear.
Portal Gears
Portal Gears are used to unlock Cyberspace portals, where you play levels from Sega’s previous Sonic games like Generations or Forces to earn Vault Keys for the Chaos Emeralds, and defeating Guardians is the most direct way to earn them. Other methods involve fishing or the rare chance of finding one as a treasure in the ground, which can also earn you Vault Keys and many of the other collectibles. There is a lot of freedom in how you earn these items. When it comes to Gears and Guardian Asura, there is a secondary method that, when done, will earn the player an additional two Gears.
The Secret Gears In Asura’s Legs
While the way to win the fight is by charging up the arms and attacking the shoulders, as it were, there’s a special secret for players who notice Asura’s legs. Use your Cyloop ability and draw a circle around one of Asura’s feet. Once this is done, Asura will lift its foot and reveal its heel.
Sonic can then use a homing attack to ram into the bottom of Asura’s foot. This will break its foot, and while this does not affect its health, it will drop a Gear.
There is one Gear per foot, so if Sonic does this to both feet and then defeats the Asura, he will walk away from this encounter with three Gears for the Cyberspace Portals. This method can be great for early Gear farming in the Kronos Islands, making it easy to unlock every portal to try out every level that Kronos Island’s Cyberspace has to offer.
