A Hat in Time: Death Wish – Subcon Forest Guide

Welcome to my guide, thank you for checking it out. It’s my first one, so please do not hesitate to comment suggestions or the like below.

I know there’s several out there already, but I feel like I could be able to give my own little spin on things (plus I could always use an excuse to ramble about Death Wish). This series of guides will house all 38 + 2 secret Death Wishes, I hope to get at least one done per week.

Each Death Wish will be grouped by chapters (so Mafia Town, Dead Bird Studios, etc) and will feature information of:

• Alterations from the vanilla game mission
• The 3 objectives that must be completed
• General advice of what to keep in mind before you start, and recommended loadout… If a boss mission, then the boss attack patterns, tells, and HP
• The nitty gritty explanations of how to win each objective
• A video from my YouTube channel that showcases the mission for the visual learner

Looking for another chapter of Death Wishes?

• Mafia Town Death Wishes
• Battle of the Birds Death Wishes
• Alpine Skyline Death Wishes (Done, Proofing)
• The Finale, Arctic Cruise, and Nyakuza Death Wishes (Done, Proofing)
• Candles + Secret Death Wishes (Soon)

Note that this guide assumes you are NOT using Peace and Tranquility mode. You are free to if you wish, as it will make the death wish easier.

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Aquire 3 Snatcher Coins

The Compass Badge sold by the Mafia Boss inside Chapter 2’s shiproom will tell you where the coins are with a purple arrow. This mission can be done in most acts.

• Snatcher Coin 1 of 3: Located in the swamp where the Subcon Well is, do you recall a giant ice block? Find it, then jump onto the top of the twilight bell and double jump to the top of the ice block. Be as high as possible up it then jump ontop of the skull near it, then onto the leaves right behind the skull. Face right and jump as high as you can, using the hookshot the second you are prompted then rotate around until you see another hookshot. Swing to it and then the coin is on the platform in front of it.
• Snatcher Coin 2 of 3: Located at the very top of Vanessa’s Manor (not going inside). You can use the ice pillars to wall climb onto the roof from various locations, though after that you must find a spot you can wall jump to the next set of roofs, and the coin is resting on a chimney
• Snatcher Coin 3 of 3: Located where the purple rift was, with the shattered ice geiser, but at the very top, so you’ll have to perform some platforming.

You are now timed

Clear the mission in 2:00, 1:40, and 1:25 or less.

Make sure that “Auto-Skippable Cutscenes” is enabled, it will save you time. Sprint Hat and No Bonk will save you. Immediately sprint to the well and hit the Twilight Bell to jump up the green platforms into the well

Optional Advanced Tech Strat: with No Bonk, air slide between the tree branch and well on the right side of the well to be launched quickly to the top of the well and fall in. It isnt required, but if you wanna be super speedy

The second you fall, head to and unplug the water. Use the current to rush to the ladder above and then turn around to grapple the hookshot. Release from the hookshot at the apex of the swing and jump to the pipe above.

Continue up the pipes to trigger the air pipe event and use it to get launched into the air. Immediately turn 90 degrees right and grapple onto a hookshot and then swiing another 90 degrees right onto the final set of platforms.

With the bomb fruit, throw it the second it absorbs the spirit to be whisked out, then air dash to the time piece.

• There is now a timer clocking how long you’re surviving the fight
• There is no way to hit him
• He does not spawn potions

Survive the Snatcher for 2, 4, and 6 minutes.

He only uses a handful of attacks during this mission. I recommend hugging the very edge of the arena as that gives you the most room to move. Getting hit is fine as long as you do not die, but note you have to die to finish the Death Wish now, so wait until you’re at 6 minutes.

• Minion Summons – He will summon 2 crowds of minions and swing them around. Jumping counterclockwise will seal the deal that you avoid damage.
• 4-way explosion – He will summon 4 rings that rotate and eventually stand still and explode. Study them, pay attention to when they begin to slow down, and move accordingly. This move gets faster as the fight goes on.
• Clockwise Explosion Barrage – He will summon sets of explosions that go off and summon another set shortly before the previous one explodes. They line up with your distance from Snatcher and will choose a random spot within that axis to spawn. I recommend spinning in a wide circle, adjusting for any that come near you. This attack will become longer and longer as the fight goes on. 
• Whack-A-Mole – He will continously appear from the ground, causing shockwaves each time. This attack will become longer and longer, but also slower and slower as the fight goes on.
• Red Rings of Death – He will summon a barrage of red rings that explode almost instant, starting from one end and slowly making their way toward you. I suggest dodging this by dashing directly toward or away from Snatcher once they get close to you as while they seek your location, they don’t do it quickly. This attack will become longer and longer as the fight goes on.

• His exploding rings now send shockwaves, except for the red ones
• He will throw potions whenever he does his whack-a-mole move as well as the 4-ring explosion move.
• Generally, he is much faster.

• Do not let your HP fall to 1
• Do not use your umbrella to attack

Snatcher has eight (8) HP in here, so after 8 successful potion attacks he is defeated. Other than his aggression, speed (he will quickly go to one attack after another) and tweaked moves listed abovee, he isnt DRASTICALLY different from regular Snatcher. Something to note though is that during his potion throws of the whack-a-mole phase, no potion will stick around for you to pick up. Additionally, if you take too long to throw a potion after he spawns one for you, it will be destroyed the next time he is going to spawn one for you, so do not waste your opportunities.

If you are ever in an instance where you have to throw a potion but he is whack-a-moling you, just leave the potion behind and make a rotation around the circle while he does the attack, and try to be back at the potion the moment he is done so you can throw it at him.

For the objectives, they ultimately just come down to knowing the fight. Remember that EVERY SINGLE EXPLODING RING besides the red ones will cause shockwaves!! So, hone your reactions, and remember to not use your umbrella, as hard as it may be to resist the urge to slap him with it after his whack-a-mole move (which thankfully, is the only instance on which he can be hit with it and 50% of the time you’ll have a potion ready to throw at him during it)

• You must fight Mafia Boss, the Act 2 winner, Toilet of Doom, Snatcher, and Mustache Girl back-to-back!
• You can die 3 times, though the checkpoint keeps you at whatever HP you had when you began the fight

• Don’t miss any chances to hit
• Win with One-Hit Hero

Obviously, you are going to want to learn the bosses inside and out for this. It seems easy, but the objectives really brutalize the Death Wish. Note that these are the story versions of them, and as such are quite slow and dont have any of the absurd moves or patterns they have in other Death Wishes.

I’d advise doing the objectives one at a time so you can be more cautious during One Hit Hero and be up-in-their-face for thee “dont miss any hits,” but if you know what you are doing you can easily do both. Time Stop Hat is perfect for either objective as it greatly widens your room for error, especially for openings.

The “dont miss a single hit” objective is INCREDIBLY strict. If a boss is able to repeat their attack when not punished, and they successfully even begin to repeat it, you fail the objective. Even if such a risk isnt there, assume it is. So, get on their tooshies ASAP.

Mafia Boss Vulnerabilities:

• You can Homing Attack him while he’s spinning
• After his ultra/megacharges
• After he falls to the ground during his attack where he goes to the background and throws his weapons
• Mafia Ball sucks here. If he does a full pass (from right to left back to right) it will fail the objective. Thus I recommend Brewing Hat and getting at the right distance to home it into his face. This will take practice, but at least it is early on?

Act 2 Boss Vulnerabilities:

• After he homes in on you from the ceiling, use homing attack (same applies to Bomb Phase version)
• After he falls from a disco ball
• After he throws knives at you
• While he is running toward you with a barrage of knives
• After he belly flops to your location
• While he is throwing sawblades at you during the bomb phase (BEWARE: He can scream you away which can flub it up, so be ready for time stop hat)
• While he is running away from you during the bomb phase

Toilet of Doom Vulnerabilities:

• Whenever a bomb fruit appears, grab it asap and throw it at him before it explodes. This includes when a bomb fruit is rotating in the air in a bubble. For the latter, use the hookshot to ram into it and then quickly throw it at the boss.
• Early on: When he ground pounds (twice initially, later three) he will jump back to the center of the arena. Use hookshot to ram into him while he is blue.
• When he begins to summon 3 cages, quickly jump to the 2nd one and jump toward the boss the second the fruit lands and wham him
• At this point his ground pounds change and he’ll body slam you after 2 (later 3) pounds. He is vulnerable after this
• At this same point, he will spawn on a random location and turn blue, throwing cages at you. Quickly rush to him with sprint or time stop and slam him

Snatcher Vulnerabilities:

• After the taunting shadows of yourself he throws flasks, find one and send it back immediately. Unlike in the story there is NO dialogue interruption after this flask so DONT STOP MOVING.
• whenever the screen goes dark and he winks, the eye he winks with is the direction he is in, umbrella that direction to win
• whenever he springs from the ground, after 3 or so times he will spring near you, hit him

Mustache Girl Vulnerabilities:

Phase 1:

• After she does 5 or so “teleports” she will prepare to slap you, so either umbrella or homing attack her once she reappears
• If she goes into the air and begins to spin, the best way to counter this is to time stop hat the moment she heads for you and wham with umbrella. This could lead to a 2nd hit, speeding up the fight.
• If she goes underground, run in a circle and th emoment she springs up, use the time stop hat to wham her the moment she’s on the ground
• If she teleports into the air, she’ll likely use 3 hourglasses at your location. Avoid them and if you want, usee time stop to secure the hitBE CAREFUL ON THIS FIGHT, AS IT IS POSSIBLE FOR HER TO GLITCH INTO THE WALL AND USE AN ATTACK, FAILING THE OBJECTIVE.

Phase 2:

• She always begins the fight with 10 teleports. Get her quickly with time stop if necessary
• She may go into the air and throw 2 sets of dark time pieces down. She will stay in the air for a second after this, so get under her quickly to attack
• She may spawn a giant purple laser beam, which you can jump to and homing attack her during. Sometimes she may fake out and teleport away, but keep pursuing her until you hit her
• When the Mafia Ball phase comes, slam into it the moment you can. It always locks onto her, and stays in the place it hit her, so once you hit it, run to where Mustache Girl used to be so you can hit it right back
• When the Bomb Fruit phase comes, there is no rush on when you destroy her shield, be careful.
• She gets a new groundpound move at this point. She is vulnerable during any time’s she’s touching the ground so i’d recommnd time stop hat or wait for her to use the attack 3 times.
• Her underground attack from phase 1 returns with the same window of vulnerablity.

Crazy ENOUGH Phase:

• All of her attacks are hyper aggressive but you can just heal it all, though if you’re going for One Hit Hero, Time Stop will help you. generally, do not stop moving around the border of the arena and make small adjustments when needed for hits and you should be okay. I am not even sure if the game tracks any misses in this phase as I recall missing ground pounds and still getting the objective, but assume you’ll fail regardless, and good luck.
• Video:

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• Collect all Pages
• Collect all Rift Pons

This rift uses the Twilight Bell gimmick very well, and will require skills with timing the usage of the Dweller’s Mask to make it to certain pages and pons. It’s chill, so take your time!

• The rift is mirrored
• You are preciously timed
• You have 3 lives. If you lose them all, you are locked out for 5 minutes.

• Escape with 30 seconds remaining
• Collect all Rift Pons

The shortest of all the rifts, but also tricky in its own right. Always have the Sprint Hat and Magnet Badge equipped!!! Learn the layout of the rift and pon positions!
It is tight to do both challenges at once, so unless you want the extra challenge I would recommend going for one at a time, preferably the “All Pons” one first so that you then know what you may be able to cut down on. There are 19 pons in the rift but only 15 are required. .

(the order I list them is the recommended grab order):
If you are to skip out on pons for the 30 seconds remaining objective, I recommend a full clear of Room 2 and 3 (Pons #1-12), and the 3 pons that you grab on the way to the portal to the next level in Room 4 (Pons #15-17).

• Room 1 – No pons.
• Room 2 – (6 pons, 5 total to progress)
  • 1. Right in front of you upon entering
  • 2+3. Turn back immediately then take a left, dashing as much as you safely can into the next set of pons
  • 4. Use the hookshot from Pon #3 to swing northeast and land on the platforms, making your way northwst to the next pon
  • 5. continue past Pon #4 to see this pon right behind the machine
  • 6. Suicide down to reset your position and you’ll find this pon inside a house on your way to the portal to the next level
• Room 3 – (6 pons, 4 total to progress)
  • 7. upon entering, quickly move forward a bit to trigger thee racoon to fall, then kill it for a pon
  • 8. Get the pon just in front of this one, it will require killing a spider
  • 9. Immediately go left and jump to the next platform, it is on a chair
  • 10. Immediately jump onto the spinning planks and wait for it to pass you over the pon
  • 11+12. Right next to the portal to the next level, you can kill the racoon and grab the behind pon
• Room 4 – (5 pons, 5 total to progress)
  • 13. A pon is to your immediate left
  • 14. Dash to the rightward pon on a frozen leaf platform, preferrably falling afterwards
  • 15+16. Just make your way up to the portal tto the next levele
  • 17. Just behind the portal to the next level
• Room 5 – (2 pons, 1 total to progress)
  • 18. upon entering, shoot right and you should see a glow sticking from the edge of the circle. Fall over to it and suicide down, collecting it via magnet
  • 19. Sitting next to the portal to the next level on top of a box of bones

  The Time Piece orb takes 4 hits to break.

• Video: