Brain Crusher (ブレーンクラッシャー), misnamed as Wily Machine in the Rockman Carddass #204, is a stationary machine used by Dr. Wily in Mega Man V, being fought immediately after the L. Knuckle and R. Knuckle as the penultimate boss of the game.
Strategy[]
First phase[]
This boss arena is a flat floor but does have spikes on the ceiling. For the first phase, the Brain Crusher attacks in a set order. Its first attack is to send out 3 missiles spinning into the air. They get into position high above , but they eventually launch directly at Mega Man's position, one by one, left to right. After the missiles fly away, the Brain Crusher releases a small electrical robot (Pikashu). This robot hovers very slowly from right to left, but it will attack by activating an anti-gravity device that will slowly carry Mega Man up to the spike ceiling. Although these spikes aren't lethal, Mega Man has to shoot the Pikashu to temporarily stop the anti-gravity effect. Destroying the Pikashu will continue to the Brain Crusher's last attack, which releases a walking time bomb (Alabell). Alabell slowly walks to Mega Man, and jumps in his direction after every 2 seconds on its timer count down. While it cannot be destroyed, Alabell can be shot to be pushed away. Alabell always gets released starting with a timer of 1, 3, or 7 seconds.
The first phase is normally invincible to every weapon Mega Man has, but the intended way is to keep pushing the Alabell bomb away from Mega Man so it can explode right next to the Brain Crusher. Each Alabell explosion does 4 damage, defeating the first phase with 5 Alabells. Alternatively, there is a different strategy that involves directly damaging the Brain Crusher with Black Hole. To pull it off, Mega Man simply needs to take damage from an attack or use Break Dash to gain invincibility-frames. This will allow him to walk just a little bit further inside the Brain Crusher and hit him directly with the Black Hole as it first forms. Each successful hit does 6 damage, and defeats the Brain Crusher in 4 hits. Not just that, but if the first phase is defeated with the Black Hole, the entire second phase is skipped completely (this includes the defeat animations), and abruptly transitions to the pre-fight cutscene with Sunstar.
Second phase[]
Once the first energy gauge is depleted, the entire lower body of the Brain Crusher blows up, causing it to not only fall down but also take the spike ceiling with it. Dr. Wily is revealed in the cockpit at the top, and he becomes the boss's new weak point. Although weakened, the Brain Crusher can still attack, by shooting small sparks along the ground in the left direction. They can either be shot one at a time, or two in a row. Mega Man simply has to jump over them, but he cannot do a full jump or he will hit his head on the spikes (which are still non-lethal).
The second phase is weak to Spark Chaser, Grab Buster, Photon Missile, and Salt Water, which do 2 damage each. The more recommended of these would be Spark Chaser and Grab Buster. The former homes in on him automatically, and the latter can heal up Mega Man for the next fight without having to burn an E-Tank. As with most bosses, the Brain Crusher's second phase takes 3 damage from the Mega Arm here.