Kurt Zisa

Kurt Zisa is a boss from the US and European versions of Kingdom Hearts, and also from Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix. He is named after Kurt Zisa of Medford, NY, who won Square's "KINGDOM HEARTS: Name-In-Game" sweepstake, held almost two months prior to the game's release in the US.

First appearing exclusively to Americans and Europeans, the giant Kurt Zisa is one of the strongest enemies in the game, rivaling the Clock Tower Phantom and Sephiroth. He was released into Agrabah after the keyhole at Hollow Bastion was revealed.

Kurt Zisa is an optional boss. The way to fight he is to go to Aladdin's house and choose to ride Carpet to the desert. During a cutscene, Kurt Zisa will attack and engage a boss fight in the middle of the desert. There is no escaping the battle.

Kurt Zisa, unlike his counterpart the Phantom, yields no prize for defeating him. Instead, he gives more Experience Points compared to most bosses (20,000 points). He resembles a golden Bandit with six arms and a cobra head (though he more strongly looks like the Luna Bandit, the Luna Bandit didn't exist until Kingdom Hearts II came out), and uses psychic abilities in his sand-filled coliseum.

Journal Entry
''Heartless who emerged from the Keyhole opened by the princesses. He swung his six powerful arms to attack Sora and company and block their attacks. But Sora sought out his weakness and emerged the victor.''

Forms of battle
Kurt Zisa fights in three forms, each with different attacks.

Prowl Mode
In stage 1, Kurt Zisa wields two glowing spheres in each of his top hands. Magic is unusable for the group, even Sora. Kurt Zisa uses nothing but physical attacks in this form. The spheres in his hands must be destroyed. Once destroyed, magic will be available to the party again and battle will fall into stage 2.

Stunned Mode
Kurt Zisa will become stunned and fall into a sitting position and his head will coil out like a snake. Kurt Zisa is vulnereable now and Sora can harm his 5 bars now. His only attack is weak bite attack. After a while, Kurt Zisa will turn into stage 3.

Shield Mode
In stage 3, Kurt Zisa will cast Protect and Float on himself. As he is hovering around the arena, he will shoot thunderbolts at the party and make fireballs rise from the ground. Sora can only damage the shield through magic. Summon and Thunder spells work well against the shield. If attacked physically, the shield will drop MP balls. When the shield is destroyed, Kurt Zisa will go into stage 2 again. After a while, stage 1 will commence again.

After Stage 3
The battle continues like this until Kurt Zisa is defeated.

Tips
Since Kurt Zisa is a very difficult boss to defeat, it is suggested to Summon Tinker Bell right before Magic is unusable as she can keep party members healed and revive Sora once if all his health is drained in battle. Another option is to cast whatever variation of Aero you have before Silencega is cast so damage from Kurt's attacks are reduced while fighting him in Prowl Mode. Having Aerora or Aeroga allows you to inflict more damage on Kurt if the shield's in range of Kurt's hands while in Prowl Mode or head in Stunned Mode.

Attacks
This section lists Kurt’s attacks according to what mode Kurt uses them.

While Kurt is In Prowl Mode
Kurt’s most damaging attacks come while he is in Prowl Mode. Here they are and how to deal with them: ---

Silencega
Kurt casts this powerful spell every time he enters Prowl (including the first seconds of the battle). When he casts this spell, you will be unable to cast magic spells, so healing can become a problem very fast. Your best bet is to simply have a strong manual weapon and plenty of healing items in your items list, or summon Tinker Bell as quickly as possible before it takes effect. Silencega loses its effect when Kurt leaves Prowl mode.

Mad Dash
Kurt will lunge toward Sora and friends if the distance between them becomes too great. Roll toward Kurt slightly to the left or right to avoid his blades (but don’t roll too far past him) to be in a good spot to pound away at his energy orbs.

Roundhouse
This action is both an attack and a defense. Kurt will spin his two blades quickly around his body while standing in one spot. The spinning blades will repel attacks coming from the other side and knock Sora away if he tries to run past them. To avoid damage, either stand close to Kurt’s legs or roll away from him.

Spinning Blade
Kurt will jump in the air and begin to spin quickly. He will then swoop down on Sora. If he comes at Sora spinning vertically (like a wheel), wait for him to approach and dodge roll quickly to the left or right the moment he is about to hit. If he comes at you spinning horizontally (like a frisbee), simply high jump over him before impact. Its also good to dodge roll under him once he's more up like he's aiming for your head. It may help to stand at the top of a dune before trying this so that you will fall into the valley and Kurt will glide over you. Also stay close to the wall and stay under Zisa before he comes down at you.

While Kurt is in Defenseless Mode
Kurt may be knocked off his feet, but he isn’t out for the count in Defenseless mode.

Whip Lash
This desperate flailing of Kurt’s neck may damage Sora if the head strikes him, but not much.

While Kurt is in Shield Mode
Some of Kurt’s most spectacular offensive spells are cast in this mode. Here they are and how to deal with them:

Fire Orb
Kurt will signal this attack by rotating his arms and a design will appear on the front of this shield. He will hover around the battlefield as balls of fire appear randomly throughout the playing field. The balls explode into flame after a certain period or if Sora touches them. Just avoid the fire balls and try not to do anything that requires Sora to stand still (such as cast a Spell or Heal). Also about when they appear you can hit them and they will do some damage to him.

Twister
Kurt will call forth a powerful desert cyclone to engulf Sora. If you pay close attention to Kurt’s arms, you will see him do a ‘lift up’ motion as if raising the storm out of the ground just before it happens. If Sora is trapped in the cyclone, simply roll out of it. The Twister will not chase after Sora once he’s free.

Meteor Swarm
Kurt will summon balls of dark energy out of the ground. The ground will appear to bubble as the balls burst in and out of the ground. Kurt will also hurl huge balls of darkness at Sora at the same time, making it difficult to dodge completely. Kurt likes to call Meteor Swarm in conjunction with other attacks for a double assault.