BEAR
RING
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BEAR RING TRANSFORMATION

This is probably the silliest feature of Circle of the Moon


 The Skeleton Medalist drops the Bear Ring.   Equipping the Bear Ring reduces all of your stats by 100.

 


Nathan as the Skeleton, throwing the giant bone.
 Using Pluto + Black Dog, normally Nathan will turn into a Skeleton form....  

Nathan standing and walking as the Bear.
 However, if you have the Bear Ring equipped while using Pluto + Black Dog, Nathan will turn into a green Bear form instead.

 

When idle, the Bear blows snot bubbles from its nose.  

Enlarged 2 times.
 The Bear form has a cannon on his head and backside.

 


The Bear jumping.

Nathan can only use the Double Jump in the Bear form.

He cannot run, break rocks, push rocks, or super jump. However, his normal walking speed is pretty fast.

 

 Pressing Attack will make the Bear fire a toy bomb from it's head cannon.
Pressing Up + Attack will make the Bear bend over and fire a toy bomb from its backside high into the air.
Pressing Down + Attack will make the Bear toss a bomb a short distance in front of him.

The Bear's attacks do little damage. Each toy bomb does about 1/2 what the whip does. The throw bomb does about equal to the whip's damage. There is no special attack like the Skeleton form's giant bone that deals 9999 damage. Also, just like with the Skeleton form, one hit to the Bear will kill you, so be careful.

It's mainly a novelty, and the Bear Ring just an item to collect for fun.

 
Rakuga Kids pics - click for larger versions
The Bear originates from a N64 fighting game called Rakuga Kids, and is also a secret character in Konami's Wai Wai Racing (aka Krazy Racers), also for GBA.

This is one of those Japanese-catered features that usually doesn't make it into the US version of a game. Luckily, Konami left it intact for the US and European versions.