Hunter-X

The Hunter-X is the most powerful of all the enemy ships found on various Gummi Missions in Kingdom Hearts II. The Hunter-X is a relative of the Hunter, and only appears at the end of Mission 3 on Assault of the Dreadnought. It has multiple limbs which fire various shots at regular intervals, along with four Hunter-X Bombs which fire waves of Power Shots.

Design
The Hunter-X is a large, mechanical Heartless with a small, conical main body with various types of weaponry attached to it. Its head is bullet-shaped, red with orange highlights, and has glowing yellow eyes. Its body is longer, dark red with zig-zagging, orange lines decorating it, and sports the Heartless emblem on its upper half. A red ring divides the two halves of its main body and all of the Heartless's various weapons attach to it. The Hunter-X's four main extensions are long, dark red and brown arms with orange highlights. Each of these arms ends in three conical spikes—two white, and one red—and each sports a single, curved, brown blade. These arms are arranged around the Hunter-X's head in an "X" shape. Two conical weapons are attached to either of the Hunter's sides. These weapons are dark red with jagged, orange bases and three small, red, conical spikes near their tips. A brick-red cannon with an orange tip is connected above the Heartless's head, and a comparatively smaller rotating gun is placed below its head. This gun is dark red with a flat, red tip.

The Hunter-X can transform into a more aerodynamic form by folding back its four main arms. While in this state, it moves with its main body leading, while its head point backward. The four other weapons are replaced with small, orange spikes. Hunters are also occasionally accompanied by small bombs. These bombs are teardrop-shaped, dark red, and lined by four white spikes. They sport a black ring around each of their midsections and a single glowing yellow eye on either side of their bodies.

The Hunter-X's name refers to its deadly battle skill. "X" may reference the orientation of its bladed arms around its body, which is in the shape of an X.

Strategy
The Hunter-X's series of attacks start with firing a multitude of Power Shots and Lasers at the Gummi Ship, followed by waves of normal shots which rotate around the screen counter-clockwise. After that, it fires a series of Blast Shots that hit everywhere but the middle of the screen, followed by left-to-right Blast Shots that start at the lower-left hand corner of the screen. Then it fires all shots at the same time, still avoiding the center of the screen. It then unleashes its most devastating attack, firing a + shaped Laser, then an X shaped one. This attack can destroy a Gummi Ship in one blow. This entire process repeats until the Hunter-X gets low on HP. Then it fires everything in its arsenal randomly in a desperate attempt to destroy the Gummi Ship. If some of its limbs and the Hunter-X Bombs are destroyed, some of its attacks (such as the Blast Shots) can be removed, and it makes defeating the Hunter-X much easier. It is recommended that the Gummi Ship should have Auto-Life and Auto-Regen abilities equipped.

When the Hunter-X is defeated, it coughs up the last Original Blueprint, the Secret Model.

Trivia

 * The Hunter-X is the only Heartless Ship that releases a heart when defeated.