Rising Garuda (stylized as RISING GARUDA) is a upgraded Garuda featured in the True Ending of Blaster Master Zero 3. Its designation is NORA MA-07R, piloted by Leibniz. After Garuda was shot down by the Sophia Force at the beginning of the game, Team Delta intervened in its decommissioning and secretly took Garuda away to be repaired and modified.
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Story
Blaster Master Zero 3
During the beginning of Blaster Master Zero 3, Leibniz and Garuda headed to Planet Sophia after saving Earth only to be shot down by the Sophia Force. The SF arranged for the salvaged craft to be scrapped, but not before Leibniz escaped with its Homing Laser.
Escaping to the Sophia Metropolis, Leibniz finds Gaia-SOPHIA SV and installs the Homing Laser, but is thwarted from hijacking the Earth-manufactured Metal Attacker by Jason's return from fighting Evil Eve. Amused by Jason's dogged attempt to save Eve while branded an enemy of the state, Leibniz decides to stick around as G-SOPHIA SV's support operator.
A optional conversation at the NORA Satellite Zone with Jason, Leibniz, Kane and Jennifer reveals Team Delta's interference with the impounding of Garuda. Leibniz realizes that Garuda won't be ready anytime soon, ask Jennifer to tell Team Delta to add a control stick as the steering wheel was a huge design flaw.
True Ending
Sometime after the battle with the mutants on Sophia ended, Team Delta finished Rising Garuda with the added control stick that Leibniz asked for. Leibniz was later able to retrieve the upgraded Rising Garuda from NORA and head for Earth.
Leibniz and Rising Garuda confront Kane after he and his old-model Metal Attacker manage to defeat Gonbei, Eir, and Atom while traversing the normal-space zones of Area ???. Scoffing at Kane's demands to stand down, Leibniz refuses to tell Kane what he and the other MA Teams were protecting, and claims that he will protect it with all he has. Reminiscing about Lucia while drawing forth the conviction to carry out the mission, Leibniz unmasks while advancing towards Kane to reveal (just to the player) a humanoid, female face with blazing eyes.
Both MA Pilots, refusing to back down, prepare to fight. However, just like the others, Leibniz proves no match for Kane and is forced to retreat.
Abilities
Similar to its predecessor, Rising Garuda telegraphs the attack it will use based on its flight pattern in the background
- A plateau close to ground level means Rising Garuda will attempt to ram SOPHIA with its bladed hull. The first dash is a real one, but the second is a feint, Rising Garuda will immediately brake and turn behind SOPHIA as it reorients before going for another ram. On the third run, after passing SOPHIA, Rising Garuda will fly straight up before dropping down on SOPHIA's position, slamming its blade into the ground and sending damaging rubble flying in front.
- A wave shaped like a "QRS complex" signals Rising Garuda flying twice across the top of the screen, dropping pylons as it goes. These pylons can hurt SOPHIA on impact midair, but are harmless once they burrow in the ground, though they're too short for the Crusher Shot to hit normally. After another trip across the background, Rising Garuda reappears in the top-center to zap all the pylons, creating electrical fields similar to the Ignition Spark weapon. These fields linger for a time and will block all attacks from SOPHIA.
- A plateau close to the top of the screen telegraph's a laser barrage. Rising Garuda will send a barrage of lasers that leave a row of explosions on the ground. Forcing SOPHIA into the air, Rising Garuda will perform a rapid movement to try and tag SOPHIA before retreating to the top of the screen, firing another barrage of exploding lasers. This second barrage also fires several big lasers into the air, which converge and crash down on SOPHIA's location to make a massive explosion.
- A rising curve will signal Rising Garuda's bit deployment. It will fly from the background into the foreground, dropping bits as it goes. These bits will not deploy shields unlike the original Garuda's but they will create lingering explosions should they be destroyed by the Crusher Shot.
- Upon reaching critical health, Rising Garuda activates its desperation mode. It flies with such force that it destroys all the debris floating with the background as it flies straight up. Its first attack has it fly into the foreground as it rains lasers on the field, creating tall flames. As SOPHIA is forced into the air, time slows down as Rising Garuda flies from below, trying to perform a ramming strike. In this state, Rising Garuda will go down in one hit from any weapon, however if it attacks should find their mark, especially the ram, not even Life Energy Guards might be enough to survive...