At Epona's default gait, the Chieftain's warthog-like beast is too fast for Link to gain ground on. But Link can spur on Epona by hitting the A button up to six times in succession, which results in a significant turbo boost. Usually three or four spurs will get Link close enough to the Chieftain for a sword strike, though he still somehow manages to pull away after every blow landed. Once you've exhausted all six spur hits (shown as icons on the bottom of the screen), Epona needs to take a breather for about ten seconds before they all replenish at once.
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Horse Battle footage
The marauders resemble fantasy creatures like orcs or goblins, though their faces are intentionally shrouded in dark shadows. Most sport fashionable horned helmets or leather skullcaps. The little buggers swarm Link like a cloud of gnats, not posing much of a threat individually but collectively amounting to a significant, fire-arrow shooting nuisance.
Every time you catch up to the Chieftain, hitting B at an opportune moment unleashes a sword strike that will knock a portion of his armor off.
Entering lock-on mode with the L-trigger seemed to help the accuracy of the sword once you're within range.
Also note that it was possible to dismount Epona during this demo and attack enemies on foot, though it seemed counterproductive when you're trying to flag down a madman riding hell-for-leather atop a raging warthog-boar thing. The chieftain is no slouch, and although he always seemed to leave the counterattacking to his minions, he does speed up and pull abrupt turns to make knocking off all of his armor somewhat challenging, or at least time consuming. Then again, he stops and waits for you if you fall too far behind, which is mighty considerate of him.
The graphics in this portion of the game are exceptionally well designed, from the look of the enemies to the weather effects employed throughout the chase. You'll wander across sunny meadows, beneath stormy skies, and finally through a torrent of rain, trampling over huge puddles rippling with droplets of water and splashing in response to the hoof falls.
There's not much grass or vegetation atop the textures of the barren plains, but there are fences to hurdle and little dirt clods or wooden enclosures that you can trample, releasing a heart to restore some of Link's health.
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The Chieftain's Last Stand
After taking seven or eight blows and traipsing a good distance across Hyrule, the now armorless Chieftain finally retreats into a Castle-like structure, then hurdles across a bridge to make his last stand. This sets up a Mexican standoff, with Epona and the Chieftain's boar squaring off on opposite sides of a huge chasm. It’s time for a game of chicken--this bridge ain't big enough for the both of us! You can guess how this is going to turn out... The timing for knocking the Chieftain off of his 'hog into the abyss was a little trickier than I'd expected; it helps to hit the L-trigger and lock on right before you try for the fatal sword strike.
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Chieftain's Charge...
Chieftain Kill footage
