Animal Well doesn’t feature combat in the traditional sense, but it’s not afraid to pit players against intimidating boss monsters. In the northeastern quadrant of the map, you’ll encounter a large chameleon that, among other things, can defeat you in one hit using its tongue. With some trial and error, you can figure out how to overcome this big old lizard and continue exploring. Or, if you don’t have time for that, you can find out exactly what you need to do below.
For those who just need a few quick hints, you’ll have to face off against the chameleon twice in Animal Well. In the first encounter with the green chameleon, your goal is to press the three yellow buttons and pass through the gate beneath it. Use the grass as bait to survive its tongue attacks. In the second encounter with the red chameleon, you’ll have to bait it into eating the hedgehogs on the platform. This will defeat the chameleon once and for all, which will net you one of the four flames required to beat the first layer of the game.
Of course, there’s a bit more to these encounters than that. So let’s break this boss monster down.
How to defeat the green chameleon
When you enter the room with the green chameleon, you’ll have a roof over your head that will protect you from anything the lizard can throw at you. Use this opportunity to get the lay of the land, since you’ll need to reach the three yellow buttons to open the gate beneath the boss. Once you’re ready, drop down the hole in front of you and let the games begin.
The chameleon will use two attacks intermittently. The first—and by far the most dangerous—is its tongue attack. It will extend its tongue towardswherever you’re standing at the time the attack starts, and it will eat up the first applicable thing it touches (unless it strikes nothing at all). If it eats you, that’s an instant game over. Fortunately, you’ll notice that there are several patches of grass on the ground. If you hide underneath the grass, the chameleon will grab the greenery instead and leave you safe.
Granted, you don’t need the grass to dodge this attack either. The trajectory of the tongue is decided once the attack begins, so you can jump or move out of the way after it reaches out to you for a snack. This is especially helpful once you need to ride the floating platform above you, since your perpetual motion will make you a harder target for the boss to hit.
The chameleon will telegraph its second attack when its eyes turn red, which will coincide with a distinct gurgling sound effect. After a short pause, the chameleon will fire four projectiles from its eyes that will follow a set trajectory onto the ground. This is a much easier attack to dodge, and it won’t trigger its tongue move during this time.
As for pressing those three buttons, you can easily reach the two on the bottom side of the screen using the Yo-Yo. You can manipulate the chinchilla and jump on it to press the buttons as well, but that’s obviously a slower option. Afterwards, use the chinchilla to jump onto the small platform under the chameleon, and wait for an opening to ride the floating platform above over to the last button. It may feel scary to get so close to the chameleon, but remember, you can use the grass as cover. Just don’t hang out after it eats all the grass there.
After you press the final button, make a dash toward the gate and pass on through. You’ve lived to fight another day.
How to defeat the red chameleon
As it turns out, the encounter above was just a prelude to this biome’s true boss battle. The red chameleon guards the flame you’ll need to progress further in the game, and this time, it’s a fight to the finish. Once you land, you’ll see five hedgehogs circling around the platform beneath you as the chameleon stares you in the face. To your right is some noxious darkness that will hurt you on contact, so stay towards the center and left side of the screen.
The chameleon’s attacks remain the same as before, but this time, you don’t have any grass to save you. Instead, you want to use what you learned from the previous encounter to bait the chameleon into eating the hedgehogs. The easiest way to do this is to tap the left button in front of any of the hedgehogs, inching forward at roughly the speed at which they walk. This will naturally goad the chameleon into trying to snack on you, only to catch a hedgehog instead. You’ll need it to eat all five hedgehogs to win.
That’s honestly all you need to do, but there is one other trick that will come in handy here. As you get down to the last hedgehog, you may find it hard to line it up with the chameleon when it’s trying to use its tongue attack. Fortunately, you can cause the hedgehogs to go to sleep by using the Animal Flute. This will momentarily stop the hedgehogs until you stop playing, which can help you control the flow of the encounter.
That said, I can’t stress this point enough: Make sure to only use the Animal Flute when the hedgehogs are on top of the platform. Otherwise, the hedgehogs will fall to their deaths, rendering the encounter unbeatable.
If you don’t have the Animal Flute, return to the room marked with a giant egg near the center of your map once you have at least eight eggs. This is also how you unlock fast travel, so you’ll want this item as soon as you can get it. Check out our guide on how to unlock fast travel for more information.
Once the chameleon eats the final hedgehog, it will retreat. Follow it, and you’ll find yourself in a room with a flame to break open. Congratulations on grabbing this key item!
As an aside, now that that chameleon is taken care of…what if you went back to the room where you first encountered the green chameleon? Just some food for thought if you plan to explore everything you can in Animal Well!
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