Hanabiran

Hanabiran (ハナビラン) is the plant sub-boss that appears in Hornet Man's stage and Wily Castle 2 in Mega Man 9. It appears from one of the eight platforms, shoots its petals towards player and disappears again when taking damage or losing all its petals. After that it reappears again from another platform. Meanwhile the player must contend with the rotating "clock arm" that constantly rotates to cover the room.



Strategy
The sub-boss is a clock-like frame with spikes at the bottom and eight platforms arranged in a circle. The "arm" of the "clock" is a line of spike balls that rotates clockwise and will heavily damage Mega Man on contact. There is a flower-like enemy that appears on one of the nine platforms to fire its four petals. When it fires all of its petals or is fired upon, it'll duck down in the platform and appear on another one to fire its petals again.

The best weapon against the flower is the Magma Bazooka. It deals critical damage to the flower, especially if all the blasts hit the flower at once. The Concrete Shot also works, but only if Mega Man is located higher than the flower. Also, it is recommended that Mega Man stay as far in front of the "clock arm" as possible. An easy way to do this is to drop straight from the "12-o-clock" platform to the "6-o-clock" platform, saving time.

Trivia

 * Its name is derived from the Japanese "hanabira", which means flower petal.
 * It seems to be inspired by a flower clock.