Digimon Hacker's Memory No Digivolution Part 19: Arcadiamon Ultra

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A fateful final encounter with Arcadiamon. This form may not be as broken as the Mega version of the Digimon we faced some time ago, where the recovery potency was about as strong as our capacity to inflict damage, but it's still a big highlight in this challenge playthrough for many reasons.

Most guides highlight Odaiba Bay, the area where this battle takes place, as being the area where you can scan and convert Neptunemon, a much better Vaccine piercer than MegaKabuterimon. Neptunemon has the same two accessory slots the Ultimate bug does and may have a weird stat spread for a physical piercer, as there are a lot of stat points in INT, but all those levels eventually result in a much higher physical attack than what MegaKabuterimon has in his INT stat, resulting in stronger physical pierce damage. However, we can't really recruit Neptunemon yet, as he only appears in the same part of Odaiba Bay where you fight this boss, and this part only becomes infested with monsters when Arcadiamon Ultra is felled. Arcadiamon Ultra being Virus-type, we have to rely on MegaKabuterimon attacking for one last time - albeit not for that long, as fractional damage does so much more in the first three halves or so of the fight.

The main reason the video happens to be so long is that we actually face the boss twice, and the first time around he can only take either 0 or 1 damage from all sources of damage. He uses some of the same moves that will be used in the 'real' second fight, the battle ending upon the boss utilising his God Matrix move. Unlike Dot Matrix, this one targets the whole party and absorbs considerably less HP compared to Mega Arcadiamon's single-target version of the move. Nonetheless, the party will most probably be wiped out. SkullSatamon 2x and KingEtemon are meant to be the first Digimon to open the real 2nd fight, but being wiped causes my reserve party to start the second battle instead. I have to switch them out manually, which forces me to lose three or so turns I could be attacking and healing.

SkullSatamon's Nail Bone deals 20% current HP fractional damage, inflicting 2,600+ damage the first time it is used and depreciating in power after that. It still remains far superior to MegaKabuterimon's ~600 damage chip until the boss's final phase. The main reason to switch MegaKabuterimons in, other than to finish the boss off with 'raw' damage, is to have better Vaccine tanks to take take Virus damage - Arcadiamon is still immune to Bug, much akin to the previous two forms.

Overall, there's far less attack buffing on the boss, and more AoE magic being used on the party, so Digimon in our party do get KO'd and have to be revived fairly often. My sole GranKuwagamon (it's just not possible to convert more than one in Hacker's Memory, so he remains immensely demanded) is switched in automatically when God Matrix wipes out my initial party, and while his tanking is inferior to MegaKabuterimons, especially whenever magic is concerned, his piercing chip damage is almost as strong.

Ryuji wakes from his spell after the fight, no longer antagonising the party. A nice end to his storyline arc.