Lycanthropy

This entire page contains **SPOILERS** for the Story Mode of *Just Shapes and Beats*. It is recommended to play the entirety of Story Mode before proceeding this page!

You have been warned.

### World

VOLCANO

**Lycanthropy** is the fifteenth level of *Just Shapes & Beats*. It is the fourth boss battle of the game and the last level of the Volcano world.

The *Flower Power* achievement is unlocked after completing the level for the first time.

## Description

*Lycanthropy* is a boss battle that features a plant once again after previously being chased by it. Some of the level's layout is directly borrowed from Dubwoofer Substep, such as the spikes falling down from the "ceiling" and the hazardous water that acts as the level's borders.

Halfway throughout the level, players will encounter a "boss plant" with a different appearance to the rest of the enemy plants. In some parts of the level, parts of the plant are used as direct and indirect attacks.

The level lasts for 1 minute and 43 seconds before the track fades out.

## Story Sequence

After narrowly avoiding destruction by the Corrupted Plant, the square reaches up to the summit of the Volcano, where the first of the three pieces of the tree is located. A pentagon appears near at the mouth of the volcano. Upon selecting the level, just as the Square is about to start *Lycanthropy*, a corrupted plant pops out from the mouth of the Volcano and jumps in after it.
Once the player completes the level, the triangle purifies the first part of the Tree as well as the plants on and below the volcano then the square will jump down from the volcano and onto the boat, chasing after the friend, cuing the transition to Industry.

## Layout

First Phase
After a few seconds into the level, spikes appear on the left and right borders, the ceiling and the ground, surrounding the player(s), before the Cactus jumps out and there is a huge water splash as the pink sea appears below the player. The corrupted plant starts shimmying around, spraying hazardous "water droplets" around, as it moves from the right to the left and stops before it hits the right border again.
Once it stops, the corrupted plant will jump into the water and one spinning Cactus head appears. It will collide with the ceiling before it collides with the water and another cactus head pops out. As that is happening, the left border disappears, with another cactus head popping out.
It happens with the right border as well, with another cactus head popping out, making it a total of four Cactus heads that the player has to avoid. Soon after, a sequence similar to the first phase in Dubwoofer Substep, where the ceiling spikes start falling down, one by one at a time, with another spike coming in after one has fallen. This continues until the beat drops.

Second Phase
Right before the beat drop, the ceiling disappears and the Cactus heads stop spinning and drop back into the water. At the beat drop, the Cactus boss emerges from the pink sea, donning a new look, with a larger body and a menacing face.
It then attacks in a pattern just like how the previous Cactus had attacked in the "minigame sequence", Chip Zeal, where it shakes its body as large spikeballs appear from the left and make a parabolic motion (a large arc), then the Cactus proceeds to jump into the water, causing spikeballs to appear in two rows in the same parabola formation, away from the center, before it jumps back up and dives deeper, causing larger spikeballs to appear just like the first ones. From there, the Cactus boss disappears, and the "ceiling" border returns.

Third Phase
During this phase, Cacti heads will jump out from the water and act as the exploding spikeballs. The first time, it will be two Cacti heads. The second time, it will also be two heads, but the distance between them will be shorter, with the last time being with three Cacti heads.
Once those explode, the ceiling once again disappears and the Cactus boss appears just as a large head, that has spikeballs emanating from the left and right and certain angles in-between with enough space for the player(s). The Cactus boss head will then shoot pink lasers in all clock directions (every 30°), glow white and drop back into the water, where it will then revert to its second form.
Tidal waves are sent in both directions (avoidable by heading for the very top of the screen) and the Cactus is seen again, "fist" pumping and bobbing its body up and down, as the Exploding Cacti heads reappear. There will be a total of 6 heads for the player to dodge.

Final Phase
The Cactus boss shakes like crazy, spewing "water droplets" as it did in the beginning, but this time it will only shimmy around. The hazards here are the Cacti heads again, the ceiling border, and the Cactus boss occasionally jumping to the beat.
This goes on until the 7th Cactus head explodes and the Cactus Boss jumps back into the water, which remains until the player(s) cross the "finishing line".

Hardcore Mode Changes
First Phase* Hazardous droplets are larger and faster.
* The four bouncing cactus heads now leak projectiles below them.

Second Phase* A ring of hazardous particles additionally appear when a cactus head emerges from the water.

## Gallery

* Level selection, note the color of the pentagon
* Beginning
* Plant heads attack with falling triangles; First phase
* Exploding heads attack; Second phase
* Spike and laser attacks; Second phase
* Mobile attack; Second phase
* Captura de pantalla (19).pnghitbox
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## Trivia

* This is one of two levels to have more than 2 characters, the characters being the corrupted plants, and the plant boss. The other level is Final Boss.
	+ In addition to that, in both the levels the corrupted plants act like pulse bombs.
* This level introduces the composer Cardi, *Lycanthropy* the only soundtrack composed by them featured in the game.

* This is one of the three levels in the game where a corrupted ally attacks the player, the other levels being Close To Me and Spider Dance

* In addition, this level and Close To Me are both boss battles that, once finished, will purify a piece of the Tree of Life.

* *Lycanthropy* either refers to the transformation of the plant to an evil plant before the level or the transition of evil plants to "boss" evil plants during the level, as its meaning fits both of the former scenarios.
* Unlike Dubwoofer Substep where the water drains before the finishing line appears, the water in this level remains until after the line is crossed.
* This level is one of three story mode levels to feature water. The others are The Art Of War and Dubwoofer Substep.
	+ This level has the greatest water disruption (i.e. the biggest wave): When the corrupt Cactus dives into the water before the "fist-pump" segment, the resulting waves reach almost to the top of the screen and keep going off the sides.
	+ This level is also the only one of the three to be a boss level.
* This is the only boss level that its level selection shape is a blue pentagon and not a pink circle. This is intentional, as this makes it an element of surprise once the player starts the level.
	+ The peg opened into pink circular rings when hovered (like a normal boss level peg) in earlier versions. In recent versions, it opens into normal pentagonal rings.
		- If the player goes back to the map, pink circular rings briefly appear before it turns into a pentagon.
	+ As this is the only boss level with a pentagon instead of a circle, it could be that the corrupted plant made it a boss level by jumping in, possibly making it probably a lot different if it didn't jump into the level with the player.
* Going back to the map in the pause menu and entering the level will repeat the sequence again, with the plant entering the pentagon along with the player.
* "Lycanthropy" means "the mythical transformation of a person into a wolf." (from the Greek word "Lyko" and "Anthropos" meaning "Wolf" and "Man"). This could be the reason why the boss plant looks like a Werewolf.