Barma'thething

**Barma'thething** is the final boss in the Picnic Panic DLC of The Messenger, fought at the end of the Voodoo Heart. He is the combination of Barma'thazël and the Dark Messenger, who fuse together after they "do the thing," identical in manner to the Arcane Golem.

The boss fight is unique in that it shares gameplay mechanics with the video game series, Punch-Out!!, rather than involving platforming.

## Profile

### Appearance

Barma'thething is a large being that is about the same size as the Arcane Golem. He mainly shares the appearance of Barma'thazël but wears ninja garb similar to 16-bit Ninja, with a blue ninja vest, bandage arm guards, and a conical straw hat. His horns poke holes through the hat. He lacks legs, and his waist tapers into a wispy tail.

## Boss Fight

The boss fight mechanically plays like Punch-Out!!, as you control the Arcane Golem and fight against Barma'thething in a boxing match. If you die at least once during the fight, you'll respawn at the previous shop checkpoint, where The Artificer will be standing nearby. Talking to him will activate a tutorial on the Punch-Out!! mechanics.

The first to knock out their opponent three times wins. You can mash the punch buttons between rounds in order to heal yourself while Barma'thething is KO'd, or to get up faster when you get KO'd. Dealing damage to Barma'thething will fill up the special gauge bar at the bottom of the screen. However, getting hit or knocked out reduces the capacity of the bar. If it is completely filled, the player can press the Rope Dart button to perform a special attack, which deals major damage.

During Barma'thething's final life, the fight ends when the player depletes Barma'thething's health bar by using a special attack. If his health bar is instead depleted with a normal attack, he will remain in a permanently stunned state, allowing the player to punch him to fill up their special bar.

### Controls

**Directional Inputs**

* Idle: Neutral guard
* Up: High guard
* Left: Dodge left
* Right: Dodge right
* Down: Duck

**Fighting**

* Jump: Left punch
* Attack: Right punch
* Up + Jump/Attack: High punch
* Rope Dart with Full Special Gauge: Star Attack (deals major damage and it's unblockable)
* Jump/Attack: Heal (only while Barma'thething recovers from a KO)

### Attacks

Every time Barma'thething performs an attack, he will leave openings. If you dodge the attack and hit him at that time, he will be stunned, allowing you to keep punching him as many times as the amount of stars floating around him.

* Normal Punch to the chest: Idle or dodge
* Normal Punch to the head: High guard or dodge
* Uppercut: Unblockable, dodge in the direction he comes (left, dodge right and vice versa)
* Combo (when he twists his knuckles): Two punches to the chest and two punches to the head. Idle the first two, high block the last two.
* Hook with glowing eyes: Unblockable and undodgeable, duck
* Two-handed smash (only after first KO): Dodge to either side

## Trivia

* Placeholder artwork in the picture files depicts an alternative version of stunned Barma'thething, with a Beach Parrot circling around his head. This is based on the cartoon trope in which a character who is stunned typically has birds or stars circling their head. In the final version of the game, Beach Parrot is unused, in favor of floating stars that indicate the number of free punches the player can dish out before the stun ends.

## Achievements

*For the main article, see Achievements.*

## Gallery

An amalgamate of Barma'thething spritesheets.Placeholder artwork for Barma'thething.
## References

> "*Alright, we got lucky there! By default your guard is down, blocking regular punches to the gut. Let's see what he does next!*"
> ― *The Artificer*
>
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2. ↑ File:Citation Barma'thething.png