He was a pain for me at first, too. I played through SSE on normal difficulty, and he took me like five tries I think. I mean, he's got some cheap ass moves. Like when he goes to the middle of screen and gives you the red ring of death. I think that's an instant kill no matter what, because I'd try to move away from him and use my shield, and it always killed me anyway. It just took a little luck though, and some good up-smashers.