Buddha (仏像 Butsuzō) is an early colossus that would eventually evolve into the final boss of the game, being renamed into Evis, which was the name of the previous final boss before it was cut.
The description from a sketch of Buddha taken from the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus PS3 limited edition booklet reads as: "I drew this after thinking about how I could make a giant statue of Buddha. At the time, we called it 'Buddha Boss,' but it eventually became the last boss. It is an image of a statue standing alone in a place where a city once stood."
There exist two designs of Buddha from different stages of development; an earlier design shown exclusively in concept art and a more recent one seen in screenshots.
Full sketch of the earlier design of Buddha. Taken from the official artbook.
Buddha's first design, shown in its various pieces of concept art, was very different to the later version, let alone the retail boss it would evolve into. This design featured an entirely different set of armor which largely exposed a fur-covered chest. Additionally, it featured a much thinner head that was covered with fur that extended down the neck, in a manner that is reminiscent of the 3rd colossus. The limbs of the early design were also much less human-looking and more ornate, being composed exclusively of stone. Its right foot is also illustrated bound to the ground with a cuff. Buddha's early design also sported a skirt that was simpler in design, with the pieces making it up further apart from each other. The simplicity of the skirt geometry is indicative of the biggest difference between the early design and later ones: It was half the size of the retail boss. The model used by the 16th colossus is 24 meters, but it is doubled internally via its StageLayout data sheet (2.0 instead of 1.0). Buddha's early design in the concept art, after being compared with the drawing of Wander next to its head, shows the same result of 24 meters.
Screenshot of the later design of Buddha.
By the development period of the Artbook screenshots which show Buddha (near the end of 2003), the boss sported a completely new, more elaborate design, and it is highly likely that the boss was now 48 meters high. Compared to the earlier, smaller design, the boss features much less fur and more skin, and a completely different head, atop a thicker and shorter neck. The legs are not visible in the artbook screenshots, but the models of the skirt parts seem almost identical to the ones from the release version of the game. Its skirt design being more elaborate compared the earlier design is evidence the boss was already 48 meters tall, as aside from its parts not being doubled in size internally, the skirt has several small spots Wander can grab onto, platforms, and parts that move very close to each other. If the skirt were to be smaller, Wander's collision will not meld together with it, causing glitches and other platforming issues. However, despite sharing an almost identical skirt, this later design still had several differences from the boss it would evolve into. From its torso up, it had different armor entirely, being more spiky in appearance, as well as being symmetrical unlike its retail counterpart's asymmetry. Its head and neck were larger, and it sported a straighter back, instead of being curved. Its hands had no fur, and its body lacked any of the glowing orange skin, as well as the lights emanating from its arms.
Strategy[]
Specification of the battle against Buddha, including a sketch of Wander reaching the colossus' feet. Taken from The World of Fumito Ueda.
Buddha's concept art and boss specification documents describe its former fight in detail - It was placed in the middle of the arena, contrary to its later incarnation that is placed on the back end of it. To accommodate its central position, the boss had 360 degrees of vision, being able to detect the player even if they stood behind it. Because of this, it was suggested in one of its battle design specifications that the boss should have two or more faces to make it more convincing ("視界判定が360度なので2面相以上にするなどして絵的に納得できるように。"). If this was implemented or not is unknown, however.
Buddha's unused ring bone.
This early iteration of the boss, like its final version, was able to rotate its torso, though not fully move. Earlier depictions of Buddha shows that it had a ring around its right ankle, attached to a chain. This was implemented at some point, as the 16th colossus still has a unused bone in its skeleton named "RING", parented to its shin bone. The specification also suggested to make its feet integrated into the ground, like it is in later versions of the game.
Sketch of one of the tunnel entrances.
There were seven possible locations Wander could enter the battleground from, with the goal of jumping down one of the tunnel entrances while avoiding being hit by the boss' pulse attacks.
Sketch of the player looking at Buddha through a peephole.
Besides the entrances, there were also several peepholes in the form of broken roofs that the player could use to see the current direction of the colossus. The tunnels were set like a maze, and the player then would need to find a route that reached its back and feet while avoiding the colossus' attacks.
After reaching its feet, Wander would need to climb onto its skirt like the final version, and find a way to reach the sigil located on its chest. Since its belly had no fur, it's likely some parts of the armor in the torso were needed to reach it. The specification also that after the player attacks it a indetermined amount of times in any spot, the boss would shake Wander off, resulting in the player falling and having to enter one of the holes around the platform to escape, and having to repeat the process.
Location[]
Development sketch of the Labyrinth and Buddha taken from the ICO & SotC PS3 limited edition booklet. Year of creation: 2003.
Buddha was fought in an arena completely different from Sanctuary, which was known as Labyrinth. It was most likely located in I7, back when the southeastern area of the map used to be larger.
The textures of Labyrinth, besides suggesting that it was located somewhere along the southern half of the Forbidden Lands, also match with the textures from the leftover models of quadrants J7 and I8. Both of these quadrants were meant to be connected with I7 in the past. However, the I7 Labyrinth model is missing from all public versions of the game. In its place, a model from the really early days of development is loaded instead, being from the period when the world map was flat, and many of the arenas were not properly added yet.
The early version of the F8 quadrant was just a world wall and not a colossus arena according to the PS3 Data Sheets. Additionally, an earlier version of the quadrant's chip data (which details the layout of the quadrant's seamless model) and textures exist, corroborating the 'world wall' idea.
Trivia[]
Buddha was based on a Daibutsu (giant Buddha), which are massive statues depicting a Buddha often with its legs crossed and right hand lifted up. However, the Buddha boss in particular was likely based on the Ushiku Daibutsu, a statue of Buddha that was depicted standing up.
A text from the one of the earlier Buddha concepts reveals that it was not always meant to be the final boss. The previous version of the final boss is depicted in the Artbook in concept art form, and it also had a model named "Evis_A" as indicated by the PS3 Data Sheets.
The 16th colossus' idol in the E3 Demo, using the model of the 1st colossus' statue.
Buddha's boss specification document refers to it as "騎士ボスカスタム" (Knight Boss Custom), likely meaning it is the Knight_2 Boss found in the data sheets. The original size for Buddha and early concept art for its head also resembles the 3rd colossus (nicknamed "Knight"). Additionally, Buddha's idol is paired with Knight's in the list of boss statues.
Another part of the same specification mentioned above, lists a few different names before the Knight Boss Custom; they are: "仏像 + 偶像 + 獣 + 機械" (Buddha + Idol + Beast + Machine), indicating that these were the elements that were combined in order to create the boss. This is similar to the specifications of the 4th and 11th colossi, and was likely done for all of the bosses that survived the archetype period.
Buddha and Evis are an unique case in regards if they count as the same colossus or not. While it can be argued that Buddha is a unused colossus, most of its data files, animations, and overall battle concept still exist in the final boss. Its earlier depictions are also always referred to as "16th colossus" by Fumito Ueda in the Artbook. However, the same could be said for the unused Evis, which was the previous idea for the final boss before Buddha took over. Evis' name, its arena name, BossStatus slot, sound effect slot (boss24), and possibly some elements of its battle, were reused for the 16th colossus. It can also be argued that the final 16th colossus is a fusion of both.
After Buddha was turned into the final boss, its arena was changed to "Sanctuary", making its old one, Labyrinth, into a unused location. This is the only instance of a colossus arena changing names after it was already placed on the seamless map. The same is true for the colossus' name itself changing to "Evis".
According to the data sheets, Buddha did not have a unique HUD icon, which is an icon in the shape of the colossus that used to show the weakpoint locations in earlier builds. Buddha most likely used the 3rd colossus' icon, though it is not seen in the screenshots available.
The kataL, kubi, and body boot objects.
In the E3 Demo, the 16th colossus had an encasing of dirt and two animated objects that were loaded before the fight started. The encasing is named "budha_A_boot_body", with 'boot' referring to the act of booting up the boss. The object was likely meant to cover its body at some point, but it, along with the two other objects, are set in the wrong positions in this version. The main encasing seems to be a mold of Buddha's design seen in the Artbook screenshots, with it having a thicker neck and straightened back. After the fight starts, the encasing is dissolved, and the two pieces named "buddha_A_boot_kataL" (left shoulder) and "buddha_A_boot_kubi" (neck) fall off of it.
Buddha's battle would likely not feature the storm of its final version, as that is a setting only fitting for the final battle. The same could be said for the music, Demise of the Ritual.
Gallery[]
Edit of the screenshot of Buddha's head, with the missing bottom half of the picture, which includes the boss health bar. The full version can be glimpsed in a photo from the interview section of the artbook.
Sketch comparing the size of earlier Buddha's head with the player.
Sketch of the earlier design of Buddha charging a pulse attack.
Limb sketches of the earlier design of Buddha.
Sketch of Labyrinth's layout, showing how several aspects of the battle worked.
Translated sketch of Labyrinth.
Sketch of Buddha's attack and the arena from the Nico bonus DVD. The translated text says "Boss attack (homing)".
Walkthrough