Bad Max

Bad Max is an alien mechanical dog used by BFB to attack and preoccupy Max in the engine room of the Jim Dandy. He serves as the boss of Stage 5.

APPEARANCE
After BFB and Max have a short sparring of words, BFB summons Bad Max, who appears to drop down from the ceiling and attack. He lets out a loud howl, and Max makes a quick yelp. BFB then tells him to "play nice", and leaves Max with Bad Max.

After Bad Max is defeated, Max triumphantly states "Welcome to the pound!" and kicks Bad Max. A small orb falls out of his mouth and opens a portal to Swizzle Firma, which Max happily enters after freeing the doc.

DESIGN
Bad Max is equipped with a lot of firepower, far more than Max himself has. Like Max, he is a robotic canine. He also has six legs, however two of his limbs are nothing but weaponry. One arm is a powerful explosive cannon, and the upper arm on his left side fires red homing lasers. He also has one oddly orange paw of unusual size.

Bad Max is also significantly larger than Max, and is much faster. While he has no jetpack, he can cover far more ground than Max can in a short period of time. Max does have use of a jetpack which can be used to skip portions of the catwalks, however be wary that if Max runs out of fuel and is forced to use the catwalks, Bad Max can sometimes bowl straight into him, using his immense size and speed as a weapon itself.

Bad Max is also immune to hitstun damage, and doesn't appear to make any visible indications of taking damage, even when hit with explosives. This is a massive benefit to him, as Max will be tripped and knocked to the ground if his with the cannon blasts or if Bad Max slams into him with his body.

Bad Max also has a short-use shield that he can use to become entirely invincible to outside damage. When the green shield around him is active, he will typically make a dash for the inside of the engine. If Max does not beat him inside and grab the car battery before him, Bad Max will heal slightly. It is imperative the player flee to the inside of the engine after grabbing the battery, as Bad Max has a much easier time shooting the player down from inside.

The shield does not have to be used independant of his weapons, however he tends not to use them both at the same time until he is in critical damage.

Bad Max seems to be a weapon sold in stores, as when Max arrives in Swizzle Firma, there is a whole store room of boxes with his face on them.

Phase 1
It is imperative the player back up the immediate second the boss fight starts. Bad Max will run straight through and damage the player in a cheap shot if this is not done right away.

For the most part, Bad Max will fire his cannon arm at Max if he has a clear straight shot. These shots are visible by the intense dust cloud created by them and the low sounding hum of the blasts flying through the air. Should Max be too far away, Bad Max will typically fire the homing laser, which is most easily dodged by jumping in a circle. The lasers make an extremely loud noise when fired and flying about the room, so it is very easy to tell when the blasts stop chasing. Still, the best option is to stick close to Bad Max, and try to be as close to the engine interior as possible without being inside of it.

Once Bad Max takes a predetermined amount of health damage, he will rush for a car battery. If he successfully reaches it, he will heal a predefined amount of health. Although it seems he heals less on higher difficulties, this is merely because his health is increased, but the restoration power of the car battery stays the same. You can beat him to it and heal yourself. Charge into the engine, and collect the battery before Bad Max has a chance to reach it, but make sure to take the right hallway when going to the battery. Choosing the left hallway will likely run you into Bad Max who always takes the right hallway and exits out the left. Remember that Bad Max runs faster than Max himself, so if you're not closer to the battery than he is, you're likely not going to beat him to it. This will happen multiple times during the fight, and the battery also respawns automatically after a set amount of time. In the HD remake, it is possible for him to simply teleport away to escape your fire.

Your best weapons are recommended for this fight. If you managed to locate the Homing Rocket Launcher on the stage, save it for the second phase of the fight. During the first phase, the catwalks are littered with shotguns, uzis , magnums , and gatling guns. For the most part, ignore using any magnums and uzis if you pick them up, and focus entirely on emptying clips from your gatling guns and shotguns. Dealing as much damage as quick as possible helps.

Phase 2
Once enough damage has been dealt, Bad Max will make a run for the starting platform and will begin firing away with his homing launcher until Max arrives on the platform. You can sit safely inside the engine and heal, but you can't shoot him whatsoever from this angle, and the homing lasers can make it somewhat into the engine, meaning venturing too close to the exit will spell damage. You can also opt to fire rockets at him from a distance, but the shield will randomly turn on and off, meaning it is possible for the rockets to completely miss and slam into the shield, dealing no damage at all.

Max's best option at this juncture is to use any jet-pack fuel he has and make a straight run to the main platform. Once you do, Bad Max will mainly fire his cannon blasts at you, and fire his homing lasers randomly while spinning. Focus on strafing him in a circle and jumping, he doesn't lead his shots, so they're fairly easy to dodge.