Lago Mechanic (ラゴウ・メカニック), known in English by his shortened name Lago, is an enemy boss character from the original coin-op and all its ports. It appears as the stage boss in the fourth stage, and once again as part of the boss rush in the fifth and final stage, recreated by the powers of Grandmaster Meio^[1]. Isuke visualized Lago as the evolution of the dinosaurs from the Amazon level^[2], whereas its design is a mix of several elements: its frame is based in that of a fowl, its claw attack is meant to represent a chicken scratching around for food, and its head is modeled after the front of an F-16 Fighter.^[2]

A massive mechanical T-Rex, also called a "Mechanicalsaurus" (メカニカルサウルス)^[3], Lago is a monstrous machine roaming in the Amazon forest. It has two main methods of attack: two retractable giant claw-like arms located in its torso, which he can extend forward and retract at will; and the ability to spit flames from its mouth, which take the form of snake-like dragons^[3]. Lago's fire-breath is powerful enough to reduce even the largest dinosaur into a pile of bones within seconds.

Lago was built due to Grandmaster Meio's worries about being unable to unify the more primitive races due to their inability to understand his words or reason. Meio decided to send dinosaurs to the Amazon, where an all-women tribe lived, intending on stimulating a collective unconscious core belief of "God" and have them worship him as one who commands "big" and "strong" creatures^[4]. While it worked, he realized it was at a very basic level, and that the dinosaurs weren't really under his command. Thus, he ordered the construction of Lago, a robot that'd be stronger and bigger than even the dinosaurs, to rule over them.^[4]

InformationEdit

Stats
Enemy Type:	Robot
Hit Points:	16 PTS
Score:	2000 PTS

Hiryu comes across Lago at the riverside of the Amazon River, with the massive robot making its first move by incinerating the dinosaur Hiryu was riding at the time. Lago follows a very specific attack order: it'll start by approaching with small jumps, after which it'll attack with the retractable claws, followed by a set of fire dragons and finally a second claw attack, before repeating the pattern. The claw has a somewhat short range, but the fire dragons are a bit harder to avoid as they fly out in multiple directions once released.

Lago's only weak point is located in its head/jaw, which makes it hard to reach due to Lago's height. There's, however, a nearby branch which can be used to facilitate the battle considerably, specially if one has obtained the Cypher power-up.

Hiryu runs into Lago a second time on the Third Moon, as part of a group of enemies that Meio resurrects. The fight is identical to the first one, except that now there's no platform to stand on, thus making reaching its weak point more difficult.

ReferencesEdit

Strider
Stage Enemies
Russian Infantryman・Rascal・Flying Mosqueman・Mosqueman・Shadowtag Bullets Soldier・Siberian Wolf Wall Crawler・Frog・Balrog Marine Corps・Hit Mouse・Mr. Elephant・Amazoness・Poison Mushroom・Dinosaurs
Bosses
Strobaya・Novo・Ouroboros・Mecha Pon・Solo・Kuniang・Anti-Gravity Device Captain Beard Jr.・Lago・Grandmaster Meio
Locations
St. Petersburg・Siberia・Flying Battleship Balrog・Amazon・The Third Moon
Related Articles
Cypher・Climb Sickle・Kazakh Federation・General Mikiel・Flying Tortoise・Sky Thunder Mk-II