Doggone Dogfight

The Howling Aces' helicopter attacking Mugman with lasers on Canteen's plane.

**Doggone Dogfight** is a level on Inkwell Isle Four where The Howling Aces are fought. It is represented on the map by an airplane. This level has the unique gimmick of having the player stand on an airplane being flown by Canteen Hughes, where the plane will veer to the side that the player is standing on.

## Strategy

### Recommended

* Platform Maneuvering
* Projectile Dodging
* Precise Parrying
* Proper Aiming

### Useful Weapons

* Roundabout, Twist-Up, Crackshot or Chaser (Phase 1)
* Crackshot, Chaser or Spread (Phase 2)
* Twist-Up, Crackshot or Chaser (Phase 3)

* Intro
* Phase 1
* Phase 2
* Phase 3
* Secret Phase

Sergeant O'Fera salutes you, then returns to the Chinook as the Fighter Pilot Bulldog appears from the background.

"You thought you were top dog, but you never had a sniff."

—Fighter Pilot Bulldog, Death Screen

A Fighter Pilot Bulldog will drive an airplane above the player, he will occasionally jump out the plane to use 2 attacks. In one attack, he will flex and shoot his bone tattoo out of his arm which boomerangs back, some can be parried. In the other attack, he grabs a cat and shoots a red, yellow and green ball of yarn. While all of that is happening, some puppies can appear in all 4 hatches of his fighter and throw three tennis balls down. After taking a bit of damage, the Chinook will support fire homing fire hydrant missiles that move slowly across the screen.

Once enough damage, Pilot Bulldog is defeated and the fighter he is in sputters and shakes as Pilot Bulldog is frightened. The four Yankee Yippers inside the plane fly out with jetpacks, as the fighter explodes, and flies in the background.

"Afirm Roger Fox! Afirm Roger Fox!"

—Yankee Yippers, Death Screen

This phase isn't fought on Simple Mode.

Four puppies from the hatch hover with jetpacks bark and shoot out letter that spins and form "BOW WOW", some can be parried. The four dogs revolve around the center of the screen, and are defeated one by one.

If Yankee Yippers is knocked out, their jetpack smokes up and explodes while the puppy waves their arms around with a close up panicked expression, and then flies away in the background. As soon as the last one is defeated, the Chinook comes closer. It is possible to tell how much health the Yankee Yippers have by looking at the shade of the exhaust that they emit, when they are emitting gray smoke, they are on their last leg.

Throughout on the Simple Mode, this phase is skipped as the Yankee Yippers abandon the plane and not return and the Chinook comes the same way when going into Phase 3.

"Looks like your skills have gone AWOL, fleabags."

—Sergeant O'Fera, Death Screen

Also available in Simple, Regular and Expert Mode.

The Dog Chinook appears and hold onto the screen. The paw pads reveals laser cannons that shoot diagonally downwards. The bottom two are shot together and can always be parried.

After that, the Chinook will flip the screen counter-clockwise. The Saluki will then mash buttons spawning red, or yellow dog bowls. The red bowls will glide across the plane, while the yellow bowls will glide above the plane, hitting the player if they jump into it.

"Looks like your skills have gone AWOL, fleabags."

—Alternate Final Phase, Death Screen

The jetpack from the puppies will produce white exhaust when they have high health, then gray exhaust when they are close to be defeated. If all are are producing gray exhaust, they will be eaten by the Dog Chinook. The Chinook appears and hold onto the screen as if it is the normal third phase, however, the puppies appear in its paw pads instead of the lasers, throwing regular and pink pineapple grenades which explodes into shrapnel when they are hit. The Saluki also appears and calls for the Chinook to shoot homing fire hydrant missiles. Unlike the regular third phase, the screen will not rotate counter-clockwise.

## Gallery

Phase 1Phase 2Final PhaseSecret PhaseOverworld Icon
## Trivia

* This is the only boss fight in the game with a completely cel animated background and no painted elements.
* This is also the only boss fight in the game where, at one point, the player battles upside down.
* This is one of the only two boss fights where Simple Mode doesn't remove the last phase of the boss (altough in this case, it is heavily altered), the first one to do this being Botanic Panic!.
* Due to the cat that the Fighter Pilot Bulldog uses to attack being almost identical in appearance to Katzenwagen, it is commonly speculated that the Howling Aces are familiar with Werner Werman.

### Inspirations and Similarities

* The usage of bulldogs may be inspired by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who lead Great Britain during World War II and came to have the nickname of the "British Bulldog" due to his appearance similar to the canine, thus becoming a symbol for the nation during this time of crisis.
* The bulldog's attire is almost similar to Rolento, a character from Street Fighter franchise series.
* The buff bulldog's design seems to be inspired from Spike from Tom and Jerry.
	+ The cat that the Bulldog pulls out may represent Tom.
		- Due to his usage to shoot projectiles, it may be a pun on the Tommy Gun.
* Several elements of this fight may be based on the series of cartoons based on Disney canine Pluto:
	+ The Chinook is in the form of a canine face similar to Pluto's.
	+ The bulldog may be influenced by Butch, Pluto's bulldog rival in several shorts.
	+ The puppies may be an anthro take on the puppies of Pluto and Fifi from the Disney short *Pluto's Quin-Puplets*.
	+ Although the Saluki may represent a combination of two of Pluto's most famous female companions in his shorts: Fifi (a Pekinese, shown with her fluffy ears and tail) and Dinah (a Dachshund, shown with her long muzzle and body).
* The second phase of the fight with the puppies may be a reference to the Sisters boss fight in *Cave Story,* where multiple dragons fly around the center of the screen and shoot projectiles towards the player.