Pepperman
Pepperman is the first boss fight in Pizza Tower. Pepperman is a snobby, narcissistic pepper with limbs with a love for artistry of paintings, specifically of himself.
Boss Behaviour
Pepperman starts with 10 HP and has two phases, effectively leaving him at 20 HP. Pepperman's attacks will switch every time he takes 2 damage. His order of attacks are the same for both phases, but become faster for phase 2. The order is as follows.
• Pepperman will attempt to shoulder barge the player. If he impacts the player or a wall, he'll be momentarily stunned. His stun lasts a lot longer if he impacts the wall. • Pepperman will attempt to shoulder barge the player again, but if the player avoids the first dash, he'll stop and begin dashing the other way in an attempt to trick the player. He moves faster when he turns around, but the dash is pretty much the same. • Pepperman will jump up until he's above the player, after which, he'll slam down into the ground. He's vulnerable after slamming and will remain on the ground for a bit. If he manages to not reach the player in time while jumping, he'll just slam into the ground normally. • Pepperman will jump up until he's above the player, after which he'll slam down into the ground again. When he slams, he'll begin bouncing in the direction he slammed from. This can be taken advantage of by letting him slam on you in a way where he would jump straight into the wall, which lowers his bounce a lot. You can follow this up easily. See Strategies for a more in depth showcase. • Pepperman will repeat his 2nd attack, but will never go vulnerable. Marble blocks will spawn on the right and left respectively for his 9th and 10th HP. Hitting these marble blocks slowly chisels them into a statue of Pepperman. If Pepperman enters a range around a complete marble statue, then he will stop to admire it, leaving him vulnerable. After hitting Pepperman, the statue will break. • Specifically on Phase 2, after taking the 10th hit, Pepperman will shrink down and run away from the player. Hitting him now will end the fight. If you wait too long to hit Pepperman, he will grow back up and attack you once more.
Pepperman has some attacks not tied to his patterns. They are as follows.
• Two small statues of Pepperman will fall near the player's location. They have a range they can spawn, but their location is random. • A drawing of Pepperman will show itself for a moment, then slowly walk across the screen. If it impacts the player or Pepperman touches it during an attack, it'll instantly die. • A bigger statue of Pepperman will show itself for a moment, and then slide across the ground. There is no way to impede its progress.
Strategies
Fast Hearts 8 and 7
On both phases of the fight, on the 8th and 7th heart, it’s possible to make Pepperman slam into the wall without doing the turnaround, speeding up the fight. To do this, make sure you stick to the wall as you jump out of the way. If you move to the left even in the slightest before Pepperman reaches the wall, he will turn around before hitting it. Grabbing or dashing up the wall is not advised, as ending your dash will move you very slightly away from the wall, likely spoiling the trick. If you really need extra air time, consider spamming your taunt instead.
Discovered by HandyBoy
Drac Strat (Fast Hearts 4 and 3)
On both phases of the fight, on the 4th and 3rd heart, you can very quickly deal with Pepperman's slam jump attack by parrying the slam into an immediate grab slide, then jump and grab as soon as possible.
To do this you need to be up against the wall with Pepperman very close to you, the distance between you and Pepperman DOES matter as after the slam he will jump at an angle determined by said distance. You want the distance between you and Pepperman to be as short as possible in order to make him jump higher and less far, this will allow you to hit him sooner and he will fly back at a better distance.
If you are too far away from Pepperman, he will not be reachable with Drac Strat.
Discovered by Dracibatic