In a surprise to even myself, I'm actually putting these up within two weeks of each other! The title refers to the beasties reviewed therein- Hare & Mew, Naga, and Gaboo. I hope this turns a few heads!

Hare- Yet another often-overlooked powerhouse. With the maximum possible gains from Power and Speed drills, as well as high Guts Regen, it's automatically a contender. It carries average Life and Skill, sub-par Defense and low Intelligence, but those matter little with its fighting style. The Hare is highly adaptable in its strategy when raised right, too- You can choose to go the Combo King route with moves like 1-2-Punch, Straight, Smash, Kung Fu Fist, and High Kick; you can try to be a One-Hit Wonder with Bang and the incredible Big Bang (A/A/C/C for 55); and you can even be one of the best Antagonizers in the game by using Foul Gas repeatedly (A accuracy, C withering for 14 Guts. No other monster in the game can beat that). The Hare does run into a few problems when trying to gain access to its wealth of moves, though- for one thing, no one is quite sure how exactly to unlock Kung Fu Kick, and luck may simply play a big part in whether you get it or not. In fact, almost all of its moves are involved in tech chains, meaning that you'll have to do alot of fighting and probably use multiple generations if you're a tech perfectionist like me. Most people may not want to bother, however, as several of the moves are relatively redundant statistical copies of each other- Rolling Blow is basically the same as Smash, but requires you to use to crappy Back Blow 50 times to unlock it; Kung Fu Blow and High Kick are also pretty much the same; and 1-2-Punch quite similar to Straight except that it has half the cost (although you'll still want to get Straight in order to access Hard Straight). The other big problem is that you have to decide whether to invest the time and energy getting Stinking Gas (which is an okay move but Foul Gas is much better in practical use), or whether you want to be without any far-range attacks, as Stinking Gas is the Hare's only hope in that range (also note that Stinking Gas is a Baddie move). This becomes your saving grace when confronted by an enemy Hare, who might otherwise trash your @$$ easily. Those with high Guts Regen can probably tough out the stink clouds from far range, and if you have very high Speed you might have a chance at dodging them. A low-speed monster, however, doesn't really have a chance in hell if the enemy has Stinking Gas unless you can crush the little bugger right off the bat with a powerful move, or unless you can keep it below 25 Guts and hide out back there. Of course, if the Hare DOESN'T have that move, you've got a cozier safe spot than any other high-level opponent will afford you, and you better make full use of it.

Mew- This stuffed wonder is another underrated wonder, but for much of the same reason that Metalner is put down- its Power and Intelligence are hardly anything to write home about. It shares the Metalner's high Skill, however, and its Defense and Guts Regen are also pretty good (but not as high as the alien, of course), and it definately has more Life and Speed. This should put you in mind for perhaps the Mew's best strategy, which is the "Annoying Little $#/+" or "Antagonizer" strategy. Its Miaow delivers B-rank withering with S-class accuracy (30 cost), making it the most dependably potent Withering Tech in the game, and the good news is that it's at the BEGINNING of a tech chain, not the end! Song of Mew and Recital start to drop in accuracy and rise in cost, however, making them best used for an occasional laugh (or blasting a low-Speed enemy) rather than repeated application. A Pixie or Jell sub-type also lets Mew fry any Tank in its path with Zap and Maximal Zap in addition to the withering moves. If you're like me, however, you'll enjoy the Hare sub-type and its Power boost more, which lets it use the rest of its excellent move list with great results. Million Blows is statistically identical to Hare's Big Bang, making it one of those excellent instant death moves like Jell Copter and Fire Stream. The Twiddling series of moves make excellent filler, too, and Twiddling-Z can absolutely SHRED an opponent if it connects (B/D/D/S for 37). Scratch, Rushing Punch, Head Butt, and Head Assault also make excellent additions to any Combo King's repertoire, although the last two seem to have somewhat lower accuracy in practice than what is listed for them. Naughty little Mews can also do some nice withering with Stab (D/C/C/D for 19), and possibly some nice damage for a low-cost move. With all these great moves combined with high all-around defensive stats (at least in pure form), the cat doll monster may seem like a very difficult opponent, but don't worry. Anyone raising a Mew will ultimately have to choose between Power or Intelligence, because you can't raise both up to high levels on this monster without completely ignoring its other stats. Hence, if the opponent is Int-oriented, stay between short range and mid-range: it'll be hard-pressed to do more than D-class damage (as an Int-oriented Mew is not likely to acquire Rushing Punch or Head Assault), which won't be any concern with such a low-Power critter. If it's power-based, you'll have more problems, because even a Metalner can be temporarily halted by Miaow, and the rest of its ranges are stocked with good Pow-based moves. A Speed Demon could be in trouble in this case, and its best hope is to sit down in long (3rd) range to dodge Twiddling attacks and HOPE to dodge HundredBlows/MillionBlows. Tanks will have much less to be concerned about, and as long as they stay in short range and don't let the Mew manuever them out of it, their only real concern will be Head Assault (try to keep your enemy's guts under 25 to protect yourself from that one).

Naga- After riding high on the pleasant surprises from Mew, Hare, and Ape (see my review in the Apes section for more details), Naga brought me back down to earth HARD. Now, maybe I just got a poor sample, but its Power and Skill gains never got as high as I expected, whereas the rest of its stats were right where I expected: just below-average with dirt-poor Intelligence. Combine this with one of the lowest lifespans in the game and a lackluster list of moves, and you have a monster heading for the reject bin. Its Guts Regen turned out to be its saving grace, however- I wasn't expecting it to be nearly this high. So, I put two and two together and came up with the same answer as DaFlipp: Combo King strategy, away! These monsters are truly made for it, because while they have a lot of crappy attacks, at least most of their moves have very economical cost. Just stay the hell away from Int-based ones, though. Everything but Eye Beam is worthless except for display value, and the Naga doesn't have the Intelligence to make anything out of them. Basically you just want to collect all of the Naga's Power moves and then string them together any which way you please to tear through the enemy, which includes Stab, Pierce, Tail Assault, Drill Attack, and Turn Assault. Turn Assault is actually a pretty good move by itself, though (B/A/C/E), and might be able to knock enemies out in one hit (or at least bring them down so low that a single Stab can finish them off, which is what I did to Poritoka). Of its two Basic moves, there's no point to Thwack, but Belly Punch seems to have better accuracy than accredited to it. The same can be said of Tail Sweep, which also seems to have another interesting additive to it- if you can immediately follow Tail Sweep with another move, the follow-up seems to have radically increased accuracy (after all, the enemy should be getting up instead of being fully able to dodge, so it makes sense). Use this to make a devastating pounce on a downed enemy with Drill Attack! Above all, keep in the enemy's face (unless you're going defensive to regain guts) and keep pummeling them with those jagged claws, and they won't last long. This is, of course, what you want to avoid if you're on the other side of the ring from a Naga like Susvain. Monsters that depend on Speed over Defense are likely to get murdered in Short and Long range, so stay the hell away from a Naga foe if you're in that category. Tanks, on the other hand, WANT to keep in there in order to stay away from Drill Attack and Turn Assault. Tail Sweep could be a problem, of course, but most people (and the computer) don't know about what kind of a set-up move that is, so it's not too bad. Your biggest concern as a Tank is that a high-Power Naga can still manage to puncture your defenses, and the constant guts drain from its barrage of attacks can make you miserable. Fortunately, a Naga is likely to only get really good in one defensive stat, or maybe have moderate scores in two, so you'll have an easy time crushing them right off the start if you try- and that's your best bet for survival. The longer a match lasts, the more likely the Naga will come out on top, so One-Hit Wonders are definately the heroes of the day here.

Gaboo- Yep. I did it. I raised one of the little mud balls. And you know what? I think I'm through hating them (look in Gaboos section for a better explanation of this change of heart). Gaboos rule in Power, Life, and Speed, and as "Have Clue-Will Travel" pointed out, there's a strange glitch in their drills that causes their Defense and Life to get mixed up when doing Swim Drills, so that they can get 18-20 points of Defense from one and only 2 points of Life, whereas you're lucky to get more than 5 or 6 points from an Endurance Drill. This means that a well-raised Gaboo becomes the most defensively solid monster in the game, but sadly, it needs that to make up for its pitiful Skill (the low Intelligence isn't a big deal). Unless you're raising a Dokoo or Jelly Gaboo, you're going to need to concentrate heavily on its high-accuracy moves, and it thankfully has more of those then other high-Pow, low-Skill beasties like Baku and Golem. Slap, Shock Wave, Long Punch, Samurai Kick, and Chop Combo will represent your main line of attack against most opponents. When you're lucky enough to have equal or higher Skill than your opponent's Speed, however, you can take a chance with Electric Blow or the devastating Ninja Kick. And when it comes to withering....Gaboos get weird. I can't tell you how many times an enemy's Spit or Acid Spit has ruined my plans, but when it's YOUR Gaboo, you're highly unlikely to connect with these moves even against the slowest enemies, so I wouldn't even bother. Out of the Gaboos other moves, Rolling Chop, Jumping Chop, and Diving Press all make nice combo fillers, but Back Blow and Straight are pretty pathetic and should be avoided. Kiss makes a good withering move, but not with the average Gaboo's Skill, and while Cyclone is a fun show-off move, it's probably not going to do much for you. At beginning of every battle, let your Gaboo build up at least 70-80 guts before attacking, a luxury you can afford with your great defenses. In the end, for any Gaboo raiser, the game's save feature is your best friend, as there will be very few guaranteed wins, but with the defensive stat potential of a Gaboo, you can be satisfied with giving your opponent as much or more trouble than he's giving you- and that's the strategy you'll have to overcome when dealing with Oakleyman, Ordorf, and the other irritating enemy slimeballs (I've gone from hating all Gaboos to just hating certain ones, you see). Just like Mocchi, using a high-cost attack is the surest route to failure, but you can't get away with using cheap moves regardless of accuracy, either. Basically, pick your highest-accuracy moves and keep a constant change-up of them against the clay globs, but only after you've spent time accumulating guts (the Gaboo has such low accuracy that you're relatively safe doing this). A really high-accuracy withering move can also give these guys a large setback. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to stay in long (3rd) range while charging up, as no Gaboo will have anything to be concerned about at that range.

Well, that about wraps up this session- be sure to check out my post in the Polls section, too, and hopefully respond if you like my stuff!