Uploaded October 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
RIP Audio
\\Plasma Buster//
HP: 4000
A unique fight in the original, Air Buster packed a punch with Big Bomber (which he had limited shots of, not related to MP) and his counter-attacks. He also had one of the highest Magic Defences in the game, set through AI to 300+ and had more HP than your average boss at this point of the game. He had a crippling weakness though; he's in a pincer, and back attack damage deals 5x the usual, as opposed to the normal 2x.
These mechanics were held over for NT, but with a few spins to make the most of this fight. At the start of the battle, Plasma Buster will deploy 'Mirror Bomber' which inflicts Reflect on your party. This is intended as a nasty surprise for later on when you move to use Cure and find it being bounced onto the boss instead, which then prompts a counter-attack (so much for gratitude). The name was changed from Rainbow Bomber to Mirror to make this more apparent.
For his other attacks, he'll primarily deal damage with Plasma Ball which is now magic-based and crucially won't wake up a sleeping character. Sleep itself comes into it from his Rear Gun, which is now 'Tranq Gun'; this attack deals 1/8th of a character's MaxHP as damage and inflicts, you guessed it, Sleep which disrupts the rally of back attacks you want to be using.
As ever, the direction that Buster is actually facing doesn't correspond to the direction he's actually facing (this is likely due to the way enemies were programmed at some point, as it's handled in AI but also through the animations themselves which together cause a clash). As a rule of thumb, whoever attacked him last is the 'true' orientation of Buster though there are exceptions to this.
A lot of the battle is juggling between offence and defence, as you'll have damage to heal, sleeping characters to wake up, and your attacks need to be timed in order to land the back-attack bonuses that'll whittle down Buster's high HP. A few Limits to the back, as ever, will make short work of him and they're easy to build with the high-damage attacks flying around.
The next Innate Ability we see here is Tifa's 'Grit' ability; once per battle, when she's KO'd, she'll get right back up again which can be a life-saver in situations like the one I found myself in during the fight. Unlike Final Attack + Revive, she won't actually 'die' when using this so buffs like Barriers and her Limit gauge will be retained.
Finally, if you've played NT before then you might notice that Buster has been given a new lick of paint for a less...orangey appearance :I
RIP Audio
\\Plasma Buster//
HP: 4000
A unique fight in the original, Air Buster packed a punch with Big Bomber (which he had limited shots of, not related to MP) and his counter-attacks. He also had one of the highest Magic Defences in the game, set through AI to 300+ and had more HP than your average boss at this point of the game. He had a crippling weakness though; he's in a pincer, and back attack damage deals 5x the usual, as opposed to the normal 2x.
These mechanics were held over for NT, but with a few spins to make the most of this fight. At the start of the battle, Plasma Buster will deploy 'Mirror Bomber' which inflicts Reflect on your party. This is intended as a nasty surprise for later on when you move to use Cure and find it being bounced onto the boss instead, which then prompts a counter-attack (so much for gratitude). The name was changed from Rainbow Bomber to Mirror to make this more apparent.
For his other attacks, he'll primarily deal damage with Plasma Ball which is now magic-based and crucially won't wake up a sleeping character. Sleep itself comes into it from his Rear Gun, which is now 'Tranq Gun'; this attack deals 1/8th of a character's MaxHP as damage and inflicts, you guessed it, Sleep which disrupts the rally of back attacks you want to be using.
As ever, the direction that Buster is actually facing doesn't correspond to the direction he's actually facing (this is likely due to the way enemies were programmed at some point, as it's handled in AI but also through the animations themselves which together cause a clash). As a rule of thumb, whoever attacked him last is the 'true' orientation of Buster though there are exceptions to this.
A lot of the battle is juggling between offence and defence, as you'll have damage to heal, sleeping characters to wake up, and your attacks need to be timed in order to land the back-attack bonuses that'll whittle down Buster's high HP. A few Limits to the back, as ever, will make short work of him and they're easy to build with the high-damage attacks flying around.
The next Innate Ability we see here is Tifa's 'Grit' ability; once per battle, when she's KO'd, she'll get right back up again which can be a life-saver in situations like the one I found myself in during the fight. Unlike Final Attack + Revive, she won't actually 'die' when using this so buffs like Barriers and her Limit gauge will be retained.
Finally, if you've played NT before then you might notice that Buster has been given a new lick of paint for a less...orangey appearance :I
