Fake Pep

[Fake Peppino is the fourth boss and a major antagonist of Pizza Tower. He can be fought in The Slum.]

[Fake Peppino is a being that bears a close resemblance to Peppino Spaghetti. He is shown to have jittery movement while also being moist and slimy. He is much taller than Peppino with loose eyes and a near-permanent smile. He, much like Peppino, wears a white tank top over a black T-shirt, black pants and a white chef's hat; his outfit will change to whatever costume the player is wearing. Additionally, in one of his boss fight attacks, he takes his head off like a mask, revealing nothing but a pink brain with eyes (which is reflected in the chef task for P-Ranking him).]

[His Boss Gate can be found in the higher end of the Slum, having the player climb all the way up to the top.]

[To access the boss room, the player needs to pay Mr. Stick $200 (20 Toppins).]

[The room is a gritty, trash-filled, and dilapidated pizza place, seemingly called "Peppino's Pizza 2" based on the inverted window, which has a Peppino-like face making an Italian expression on it. The other thing to note is the giant wall mural of an amusing caricature of Peppino in a proper chef's suit holding a pizza and saying, "Nothing Compares!". As Peppino enters the boss fight, Fake Peppino turns around and makes a similar, but distorted "scared" scream.]

[During the second phase, the background becomes more demented and damaged, changing to have what is presumably Fake Peppino clones/victims appearing from the garbage and cracks in the walls, and the windows face distorts to become similar to Fake Peppino's face. The wall murals face distorts to become similar to the one in the window, with its original message altered to take the form of a nonsensical order of letters, saying "FRTXJPIHCBATTZRDIHJPS!". The window itself has this face along with backward letters saying "Peppino Peppino Peppino Peppino" with each 'Peppino' getting smaller.]

[During the chase sequence, the stage is a dark setting with a black and dark purple color scheme. After the chase sequence, the exterior of the stage is shown, apparently being called "BRUNO PIZZA", With some of the letters crooked, the N however, is fully rotated sideways, making it look like a Z and the A is turned all the way upside down. making the sign look like it says "BRUZO PIZZⱯ". This place is as rundown, if not more than the initial boss stage, and it's also boarded up, with several strange posters and signs on it. Fake Peppino's eyes and hands can be seen through the boarded-up door. At the time of release there was a sign saying "DO NOT ENTER INSIDE!", where the words can be read from a different angle to say "DO ENTER NOT INSIDE!". It has since been changed in The Noise Update to read "DO NOT GO INSIDE," which if following the same reading angle from before can say "DO GO NOT INSIDE." This was likely done to be more linguistically correct.]

[Main Gimmick of the Fight: Fake Peppino is not the only "Fake Peppino", as darker-clothed variants of the Fake Peppino will appear in order to attack the player. These dark-clothed clones cannot be attacked, but in turn, disappear after attacking. Attacking also makes the player likely take damage, so it is recommended to avoid them.]

[They're very difficult to parry, but doing so is still possible.]

[Phase 1: Fake Peppino will run about and periodically lunge forward to grab you with one arm. If he grabs the player, they are stunned and stabbed by his tongue, launching them away and taking damage. This is one of the only attacks in the game that can't be parried at all, likely since the player isn't immediately damaged upon being hit by the attack.]

[Clones that do this move will disappear after doing the grab dash or after hitting the player.]

[High Jump and Face Slam: Fake Peppino performs a powerful frog-like leap into the air, then slowly falls down towards the player, slamming into the ground headfirst. Fake Peppino can be attacked during the windup before the jump or after he slams into the ground.]

[Clones that do this will disappear after slamming into the floor.]

[Mach Run: Fake Peppino runs at extreme velocity, running up the walls and across the ceiling, around and around the arena. He can be attacked while he starts running and after he stops running.]

[When the clones try to wall run, they will fall down off of the ceiling the moment they are above the player and then face slam downwards.]

[Super Jump: Fake Peppino crouches down and super jumps to the ceiling, then jumps back down to the floor, repeating this 4 times before finishing.]

[Clones will form a line of 10, leaving a small space for the player to stand safely before they jump from the floor to the ceiling and disappear, then repeat their formation and attack several times with the opening in a different place each time.]

[Head Throw & Headless Run: Fake Peppino pulls his head off, revealing his brain and eyes, and throws it toward the player. The thrown head can be ducked under or jumped over. After this, Fake Peppino will run to retrieve his lost head, hurting the player if he collides with them. This can either be parried or jumped over.]

[Several clones will appear from each side of the room and charge towards the other end and disappear, with the exception of the last clone who tosses its head. This clone will disappear immediately afterward.]

[Super Taunt: Fake Peppino jumps and performs one of three super taunts, sending out 8 spiky bouncing projectiles in cardinal and diagonal directions. Once he finishes showing off, he falls back down and runs to the other side of the room to do it again.]

[Clones that super taunt will only send out one projectile, sending it diagonally downwards, as well as headless clones will run across the room from time to time. The clones will use their simultaneous super taunts 7 times before the second phase begins, and headless clones will spawn after the second and fifth taunts.]

[Phase 2: Once Fake Peppino reappears after taking 6 hits, he enters phase 2. Fake Peppino will repeat all of Phase 1 again but will no longer disappear. Now clones will appear alongside him to attack the player.]

[All Attack Combinations: Fake Peppino and his clones will both attack the player in Phase 2. Here are all the combinations of attacks for each hit point.]

[Underlined Moves: The move performed by the main/original Fake Peppino. Grab Dash + Mach Run. High Jump & Face Slam + High Jump & Face Slam. Mach Run + Mach Run. Super Jump + Headless Run. Head Throw & Headless Run + Head Throw. Super Taunt + Mach Run.]

[Dark Tunnel Chase: Once Phase 2 is beaten, the floor collapses, and the player is chased by a giant, monstrous Fake Peppino through a small dark hallway. If Fake Peppino touches the player, they will simply take 2 points in damage, and Fake Peppino is knocked back, effectively giving the player 3 hit points if they survived up to this point with full health. Once the player escapes the tunnel, the fight is over.]

[When playing as The Noise during the chase sequence, getting away from Fake Peppino is much harder. The layout is more difficult, and Fake Peppino gets faster the further the player is from him, meaning that it is very difficult to gain a lead on him. However, if Fake Peppino touches the Noise, he will turn around and intimidate the shapeshifter with a horrifying shriek, prompting him to run away. It is impossible to lose the phase, as the tunnel contains no other obstacles.]

[In Swap Mode, depending on the player leading when the chase starts, the layout will change. In addition to this, Fake Peppino's speed will vary. He goes at a set speed, but when a Swap happens, he becomes faster. This can be seen when leading as Peppino, then at the door, as soon as the player arrives, swap to The Noise. Fake Peppino will dramatically speed up since he was so far away. It works the other way too, but it might not work as well if trying to speed the fake up.]

[After beating the Final Boss’ 2nd Phase, Pizzahead will bring in the four previous boss characters, and sends each of them to attack. Despite each boss having 8 HP and extra 8 HP afterwards, 4 HP will be drained per hit due to Peppino becoming enraged immediately beforehand. The player fights each of the bosses one by one, they use some of the same attacks as before. After defeating Pepperman, Gustavo will appear for the player to grab and throw him at the remaining 3 bosses to stun them.]

[Fake Peppino is the fourth and final boss in the rematch. Fake Peppino doesn't use any of his clones during the final battle.]

[Fake Peppino also speaks in a distorted tone, alongside just only talking in reversed speakings of his actual doppelganger; Peppino.]