Kenzan! guide: the four Reincarnation battles and four Ultimate boss rushes

Kenzan! guide: the four Reincarnation battles and four Ultimate boss rushes The Reincarnation challenges let you play as Baiken, Ito, Toji and Kojiro. Their controls aren't identical to Musashi's, so pause and check the move list before wasting an attempt trying to use your usual attacks. The final group consists of four boss rushes. Together with the ten Melee, five Showdown and ten Trial stages, these make all 33 Ultimate Challenge missions. Reincarnation 1: Shishido Baiken Unlock: clear all ten Melee challenges. Goal: defeat the mountain bandits in under three minutes for S. Baiken's regular combo is the useful starting point. Keep enemies in front of you and use its reach rather than spending the attempt experimenting with his shorter attacks. Move toward the next group as soon as the current one falls. The grade is based on time. Taking a hit isn't ideal, but stopping to play every ordinary bandit as a cautious duel can cost the rank. Reincarnation 2: Ito Ittosai Unlock: clear all five Showdowns. Goal: defeat Ueda and the Yoshioka students at Rendai Field. Aim for under two minutes, the stricter published S target. Start with Ueda. Lock on with R1, move the stick toward him and use the heavy attack to pressure him. Use Ito's short combos while you have space. If the students surround you, switch to his knockdown attacks instead of trying to force the same sequence through several enemies hitting you at once. Once Ueda is down, clear the remaining students without wasting time chasing one far away while several others are already within reach. Reincarnation 3: Gion Toji Unlock: clear all ten Trials. Goal: defeat the challengers at the Yoshioka dojo in under six minutes. Toji's four-hit sequence is useful for keeping a single opponent under pressure. Close the distance after a knockdown and catch the recovery rather than giving the opponent a free reset. Watch the two swordmaster-type enemies. They are the ones most likely to interrupt an otherwise straightforward clear. Keep them in view, avoid swinging into a prepared defence and use Toji's available heavy attacks when the ordinary combo isn't working. Reincarnation 4: Sasaki Kojiro Unlock: clear Ultimate stage 4, the full boss rush. Goal: defeat Miyamoto Musashi. Clearing the fight earns S; there is no speed target. Musashi uses two swords. Begin defensively and use Kojiro's Triangle counter while blocking his attacks. You can activate it from the guarded position rather than dropping your defence first. As Musashi becomes more aggressive, make him commit to a sequence, stay clear and punish the recovery. Don't keep attacking merely because the first hit landed. You have no reason to rush and throw away a good attempt. Ultimate 1: ninja assassins, Gion Toji, Hozoin Inshun Unlock: clear every Melee, Showdown and Trial stage. S goal: finish the three-round rush in under six minutes. Against the assassins, keep the group in front of you and finish vulnerable targets instead of splitting damage across everyone. Two swords are useful for covering several enemies and blocking attacks from different directions where the stage permits the style. Against Toji, guard or evade his committed sequence and answer during the recovery. Against Inshun, respect the spear's reach. Close in after his attack rather than walking through the whole sequence to try to hit him. The six-minute goal applies to the rush, not separately to each fight. A very cautious first round can leave you short on time later. Ultimate 2: Shishido Baiken, Yoshioka Seijuro, Sasaki Kojiro Unlock: clear Ultimate 1. S goal: finish in under six minutes. For Baiken, guard his approach and take the short opening after he moves or finishes attacking. Don't expect every opening to hold a long combo. Seijuro punishes predictable attacks into his counter stance. Use the openings you learned in the story instead of repeatedly testing the front of his guard. Kojiro is the last fight. Avoid his dangerous sequence, then attack from a useful angle when it ends. Keep enough health to survive that closing round rather than trading it all for a few seconds against the earlier bosses. Ultimate 3: Shibusawa Zankisai, Komaki Souzaemon, the Sword Saint of the Fields Unlock: clear Ultimate 2. S goal: finish in under six minutes. These are the three trainers, with the Tengu Mask fighter appearing as the Sword Saint of the Fields. Treat them as trained opponents who can punish an obvious approach, not ordinary arena fodder. Against Shibusawa, bait a committed attack and answer its recovery. Two-sword pressure can be useful against Komaki, but don't keep swinging once he has recovered. The Tengu fighter needs the same attention to his stance and openings that his training battles teach you. If a run is going badly, work out which fight is consuming the time. Practising that trainer's patterns is more useful than repeating the entire rush with the same approach. Ultimate 4: the full 12-round boss rush Unlock: clear Ultimate 3. Goal: defeat all 12 rounds. A clear earns S; this one is about lasting through the sequence. The order is: 1. Majima Gorohachi. 2. Ito Ittosai. 3. The ninja assassins. 4. Hozoin Inshun. 5. Yoshioka Seijuro. 6. Gion Toji. 7. Shishido Baiken. 8. The Yagyu disciples. 9. Sasaki Kojiro. 10. Shibusawa Zankisai. 11. Komaki Souzaemon. 12. The Sword Saint of the Fields. You don't need to force a timed clear. Take the safer openings, especially against opponents who counter your attacks. Twelve rounds leave plenty of chances for small mistakes to accumulate. For the group rounds, avoid getting boxed in and don't lose track of enemies behind you. For the duels, stop your combo when the opening ends. The last three trainers are still ahead after Kojiro, so beating the story's last major opponent does not mean this rush is over. The final check After Ultimate 4, do the newly unlocked Kojiro-versus-Musashi Reincarnation battle if you haven't already. Then inspect all five groups for any stage below S. There are four Ultimate stages, not five. The full list is 10 Melee, 5 Showdown, 10 Trial, 4 Reincarnation and 4 Ultimate. All 33 need S for the True Brawler God Amulet.