Kingdom Hearts’ Pot Centipede is a Cautionary Tale in Boss Design

For a game like Kingdom Hearts, which tends to err toward simplicity, there are a number of shockingly difficult bosses. However, few have the reputation as a run killer in the way that the Pot Centipede does when it appears halfway through the level based on Disney’s Aladdin.

This particular enemy adds a few interesting wrinkles to Kingdom Hearts, all of which come together to show the weaknesses of the first game in the series and its combat. The player is pitted against not only a monster with brief moments of invincibility, but also with the game’s less-than-ideal camera controls inside of a series of cramped hallways.

One of the key components to the fight against the Pot Centipede is less about the enemy and more about the layout of the map that the player fights the Heartless in. The streets of Agrabah are an area that the player should already be somewhat familiar with by the time the fight starts, having had to explore this interconnected area a few times to progress the story. However, as isn’t often the case with Kingdom Hearts‘ interconnected and layered worlds, this boss encounter actually takes place along several of the previously explored zones all at once.

In order to pull this off, the player is funneled through a series of tunnels throughout the fight, which can often make controlling the camera a nightmare, whether locking onto the Pot Centipede or not. This then makes it difficult for players to get their bearings, all while being attacked by hoards of Heartless, as well as the boss itself. Then, even if the player can wrangle control of where they are looking long enough, there are huge periods in which the boss is completely immune to damage and might instantly knock out players from the edge of the screen.

The transition periods from one section of the map to another within this encounter happen when the Pot Centipede connects itself to several Pot Spiders and begins to roam around the map, breaking through barriers into new areas. While this happens, the boss is often completely immune to attacks, either deflecting any swings with Sora’s Keyblade outright, or simply ignoring them altogether. It adds a frustrating moment to what could already be described to be one of Kingdom Hearts‘ most drawn out fights, as the player is forced to wait on the sideline or be thoroughly punished.

To add to the frustration, if the player does attempt to take advantage of this moment as the Pot Centipede moves at a snails pace through the level, there’s a good chance of getting hit hard by the tails on the back end. More often than not, a deflected attack, or even an ignored one, will land Sora right at the backside of the boss, where a consistent attack is sweeping the area for what can easily be an instant kill on higher difficulties. In fact, this one enemy alone is a key example of why the original Kingdom Hearts didn’t need a critical mode, unlike the games that came after, which excelled from the enhanced difficulty.

Even at lower difficulties, the damage output of the Pot Centipede can be enough to one-shot Sora, making it a tough run ender in the challenge and speedrunning communities. It isn’t too odd to think that the game would throw out a few powerful Heartless at this point in the game, with Agrabah marking roughly the halfway point. However, the extreme jump in power from the previous boss, Kingdom Hearts‘ Guard Armor variant known as Opposite Armor, is incredibly sudden and can leave a lot of players stuck.

This creates a moment where players are either forced to beat their head against a brick wall, or grind themselves up in preparation to be able to hopefully survive one of the Pot Centipede’s attacks. While there are a few places among Kingdom Hearts‘ roster of worlds to do the grinding at this point in the game, it isn’t often the most engaging option for most players. Altogether, the damage output adds considerably to the frustration of a boss that seems like a great idea on paper, but begins to fall apart when it conflicts so harshly with the rest of the game.

Kingdom Hearts is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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