Darkside

The Darkside is a Pureblood Heartless that is found in all Kingdom Hearts games except for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. It is one of the bosses at the Awakening, Destiny Islands, End of the World, and Twilight Town.

Design
A Darkside is a massive, muscular, humanoid Heartless with black skin. Its legs are rather short and its feet are very thin and curl upward. Its arms are quite long, and it has two relatively small, twisted wings on its back. There is a large, heart-shaped hole in the Heartless’s abdominal area, which penetrates straight through from the front to the back. Its head is covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles. Only its small, glowing yellow eyes are visible. In Kingdom Hearts, Darkside had a flap of skin where the heart on its body creases at the top, whereas in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories this flap of skin was removed for unknown reasons.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
In the ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Aqua is seen wandering in the Realm of Darkness. A Darkside rises before her, several more appearing around her as well. Aqua summons Master Eraqus's Keyblade, but loses hope and decides to let the darkness consume her. As one of the Darksides prepare to attack, two shimmering lights destroy them. Closer examination shows that the lights are Terra and Ventus's Keyblades, Earthshaker and Wayward Wind. Aqua then looks on as the Keyblades disappear from sight.

Kingdom Hearts
As Sora progressed through the Awakening, his shadow eventually grew into the Darkside. Sora attacks the giant, but is eventually sucked into its darkness. The Heartless later attacked the Destiny Islands after the Door to Darkness was opened, eventually being sucked up into a dark cloud that loomed above the islands, whereas Sora was sucked up along with it and transported to Traverse Town. A Darkside later rose up from the ground below and interfered with the battle between Sora and Ansem at End of the World. Sora also glimpsed a number of Darksides within the Door to Darkness before they were destroyed by King Mickey.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The Darkside is fought in Twilight Town (during a mission involving Roxas and Xion) in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. After Roxas depleted its HP, he found himself strangely weakened, his Keyblade knocked from his grasp. The blade reappeared in Xion's hands, and then she destroyed the massive Heartless in a single strike.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora fights the Darkside in the card world Destiny Islands, with the Heartless appearing in a way very similar as it did in the first Kingdom Hearts. When Riku enters the card world, he too faces it, Zexion creating a replica of Riku and transforming it into the Darkside to show Riku what he "truly was."

Kingdom Hearts II
A Darkside appears in Roxas's dreams of Sora's memories.

Kingdom Hearts coded
A data version of the Darkside appears in Kingdom Hearts coded, which is battled by Data-Sora.

Kingdom Hearts
The Darkside uses its size and strength to easily overpower opponents. It can punch the ground, creating a pool of darkness and summoning Shadows to assist it in battle. It can also fire blasts of dark energy from its chest. Its seemingly powerful desperation move involves pulling a dark energy orb out of the ground while causing a shockwave and launching it into the sky, causing it to disperse to the ground as smaller energy blasts.

First Battle

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The Darkside is an easy-medium boss, and can be defeated very quickly. In all three battles against the Darkside, the strategy for defeating it remains the same. Its weaknesses are its head and hands. This is simply a hack-and-slash battle, with no real strategy needed. Simply attack at every opportunity and avoid the Darkside's attacks. When the Darkside launches its dark missiles, time your attacks just right to send them hurling back, heavily damaging the Darkside as well as granting Tech points to yourself. Any deflected missiles grants you 1 Tech point, while every deflected missile that hits the Darkside grants you an additional 2 Tech points.

If you get low on health, defeat the Shadows that spawn, as they drop HP orbs. If you can climb Darkside's arm and attack its head, you gain tech points for every combo finisher landed.

Second Battle

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The strategy for the first battle can be used for the second battle.

When the Darkside scoops up the orb of Darkness, do not run around. The missiles will vanish when Guarded or attacked and will not make Sora recoil.

Third Battle

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The Darkside from this battle will act the same as the one from the second battle, so simply use the same strategies and the Heartless will fall.

First Batttle

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

This memory-based incarnation of the Darkside utilizes the same tactics as its Kingdom Hearts counterpart. Card Break are an easy way to avoid damage. Again, the player must attack the arms to deal damage, Sora having to jump in order for this to be done. If a Gimmick Card appears, a plank of driftwood will appear that Sora can hop upon and float up to the Darkside's head to deal extra damage, or when the Darkside is about to blast an orb from its body, one can use a Card Break to attack it before it escapes. Another way to attack the Darkside's head without using a Gimmick Card is to wait for it to summon Shadows (its arm will be immobilized then) and there will be an opportunity to attack its head. A combination of high-numbered Attack Cards as well as Cure Cards are recommended, along with Enemy Cards such as Jafar, Maleficent, Vexen and Card Soldier to make the battle easier.

It should be noted that Sleights should not be abused by Sora (or Riku), as missing with them wastes much-needed cards, and the player will eventually run out.

Second Battle

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

The strategy above holds similar to Riku's battle with the Darkside. Riku can also utilize Dark Mode, Dark Firaga being the most reliable Sleight in his arsenal, considering he only has two. Dark Break can be used more commonly, but it will often miss, although it does have a tendency to hit the head.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the only difference is the Gimmick Card causes large plateaus to spawn.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside punches the ground, causing a dark pool and mild shockwave to form. This attack gives birth to a small number of Shadows.
 * The Darkside scoops up an orb of darkness, which splits into many smaller orbs that rain from the sky.
 * The Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole in its body, which fires dark homing missiles.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Roxas is also faced with the Darkside, having Xion as a partner. Xion will mainly cast Fire spells from a distance, so focus on attacking the Heartless's hands. It utilizes all techniques from past encounters and the same tactics are able to be used in order to prevent most damage.

It is advised that the player Jump as much as possible to avoid the Darkside's devastating long-range shockwave attack, used after many of its tactics. Roxas should also be in constant motion to avoid the energy that rains down, using Block to deflect the energy balls back at the boss. This battle should not be too much of a difficulty.

Its attacks always follow a pattern, starting with summoning the Shadows and ending with the dark balls falling from the sky. The pattern goes on until it is defeated.

First Form

 * Attacks
 * The Heartless will strike with its hand, and three Shadows will appear.

In this game, the Darkside has three forms. The first form is simple; the Darkside is out of reach from Data Sora, who stands on a cliff. The Heartless will strike with its hand, and three Shadows will appear. After it strikes the ground, attack its hand with physical and other attacks. After depleting its HP, it will take on a new form.

Second Form

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside strikes, releasing numerous bugged blocks upon contact with the ground, which deal damage to Sora.
 * The Darkside leans back and releases a barrage of orange blocks at Sora, throwing him back and dealing damage.

The Darkside will again strike, but this time, it will release numerous bugged blocks upon contact with the ground and they deal damage to Sora. To attack the hand, you must delete a layer of bugged bloxes which cover its hand. If you're not quick enough, the hand will turn transparent and you cannot land an attack on it. However, when you do, the Darkside will slump foward and its head will lay stunned, on the ground and open for attacks. After the punch, the Darkside will lean back and release a barrage of orange blocks at you, throwing you back and dealing damage. Dodge it by using Dodge Roll until you are close to the Darkside. After the barrage, it will resume its cycle of punching.

Third Form

 * Attacks
 * The Darkside hops around, each time releasing a small shock wave.
 * The Heartless turns into a swirling mass of blocks, which proves lethal if contact is made.

In its last form, the Darkside will become entirely invisible, nothing but a bunch of orange blox. In the center of the swirling mass, there is a purple blox, which represents the Darkside's health. Dodge Roll is useful for this, as the Darkside will hop around, each time releasing a small shock wave. Consequently, it will turn into a swirling mass of blocks, and prove lethal if contact is made. Dodge Roll is faster than running; it can avoid the Darkside's attacks. Soon, it will separate, and the purple block is wide open for attacks. But do not be idle with your time; it will close after some time. Destroy the block by repeating the process over and over.

Trivia

 * The Darkside battle shares many similarities with the Twilight Thorn, a gigantic Nobody. Both appear in Roxas and Sora's Awakenings, respectively, and are the first bosses of the game. Their Japanese names, Twilight Zone and Darkside, are both science-fiction horror serials.
 * The Darkside is the only Heartless boss to appear in every game. However, in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts II, it is only seen in cutscenes.