Ending

SPOILER ALERT

This is about the ending of Motherload. Read at your own risk.

Preparation
To win the game, you must kill Mr. Natas, also known as Satan, beneath the depth of -7300 ft. Once you enter, the depth will change to -66666 ft., a reference to the number of the beast.

To prepare for this, dig down until you cannot dig or blast any further, then reach the right-most side of the map, where you will find a hole in the impenetrable barrier. Return to the surface and purchase around 50 or so of Hull Repair Nanobots and Plastic Explosives each, as well as several Reserve Fuel Tanks to sustain yourself for the fight. Also, buy a Matter Transmitter to flee if it goes wrong (but only if your device can handle teleportation from great depths without crashing).

Return then drop down the hole to receive a transmission from Mr. Natas informing you of his plans for your demise. Proceed to battle him. You cannot pause, open inventory, options, or help during the boss fight, but changing your web browser's tab may be able to pause the battle for the time being.

The Battle
To damage Mr. Natas, you must hit him with Dynamite or Plastic Explosives, bought from Emendation Station 3500. His hitbox is deceptively small - he will not be damaged if only the edge of the blast hits him. You also need to detonate right at his feet for maximum damage, and you can only use explosives while on the ground. Plastic Explosives are recommended as they do more max damage, 240 compared to 120 with Dynamite. If detonated slightly further away, both may only deal 60 damage.

Mr. Natas has two forms. If you leave the boss battle at any point (even during his second form's death animation), you must start from the beginning with him at full health.

In both forms, sometimes when you take damage from Mr. Natas, it will cause your Hull bar to become completely white, preventing you from seeing how much health you have left. This can persist even if you flee the battle, but resets if you take damage again.

First form
Mr. Natas appears as a towering humanoid in a business suit with Satanic features, with 1000 HP. He can damage you in several ways:


 * Laser Monocle: He emits a sweeping laser beam that deals damage in an arc with some knockback. The directly of the arc is random and is not necessarily aimed at you. This can hit through the ceiling of the boss area. It can hit you even if the pod is sitting 3 squares above the ceiling - but going 4 squares quits the battle and resets the boss fight.
 * Staff: He swings his walking stick at you, with a big knockback.
 * You will take damage if you come into contact with him and this also bounces your pod slightly, preventing you from using explosives or teleporting away.

To fight him rush towards him in between attacks and mash the "C" key to use Plastic Explosives at his feet, then beat a swift retreat. Use Repair Nanobots as necessary. When defeated, Mr. Natas sinks into the ground, but then sends you another transmission, declaring himself the "master of all EVIL!" The game is paused as long as this transmission is open, so you have a chance to catch a break between the two forms.

Second form
Mr. Natas re-emerges, taking the form of a cyborg demon with 2000 HP. He can damage you with:


 * Mechanical claw: Extends his arm, then swings it forward, dealing damage in a sweeping arc, faster and harder hitting than the Laser Monocle. This can hit through the ceiling of the boss area. However, its range is shorter so you may be safe if you go up 3 squares above the ceiling.
 * Fireball: Opens his chest-oven to release a bouncing ball of energy. Can be dodged by flying up or ducking beneath it. The ball deals constant damage while you are in contact with it, so moving in the same direction as it does can be deadly.
 * Touching him will still do damage to you like in the first form.

Use the same strategy as before to damage him until he is defeated. Rush at him at full speed, click "C" right as you pass through. Sticking around is dangerous as the contact damage plus a claw attack combo can easily kill you if you are not at full health.

Rewards
Defeating Mr Natas' final form will bring you to a screen in which you receive $28,500,000 of cash rewards from cosmetic drops of items:


 * Mr Natas' Kevlar Suit
 * Mr Natas' Staff of Hell
 * Mr Natas' Laser Monacle
 * Satan's Hooves
 * Satan's Horns
 * Satan's Evil Eye (right)
 * Satan's Evil Eye (left)
 * Satan's Boiler of Eternal Infernos
 * Martian Reward for Restoring Peace
 * 250,000 Shares of Natas HI Inc.

Your final score is then calculated by adding the said rewards to your current cash balance, and you are shown your game stats. You are then given the option to save your game, in which either option will bring you back to the Starting Screen.

After defeating Satan
Should you choose "Save Game", when you load your game you will have a "Satan's head" in your inventory. All your cash, upgrades and equipment will be removed. In this "second game" points gained from digging is doubled, but the cash you earn from minerals is halved. Damage to you will now be doubled when fighting the boss again.

Beating the game multiple times will increase the points you gain while decreasing the worth of minerals depending on how many times you have defeated Satan;

Defeating Satan x times will cause your
 * Minerals be worth 1/(x+1)
 * Points for digging (including artifacts) be worth 1*(x+1)
 * Damage from Boss taken be 1*(x+1)
 * Boss Health 1000*(x+1) for first stage and 2000*(x+1) for second stage
 * (All other values remain constant)

The game can be technically beaten 99 times in total. However, the difficulty rapidly increases to impossible levels without hacking after only a few playthroughs.

Trivia

 * "Martian Reward for Restoring Peace" is a rare reference to Martians in the game, along with Martian Skeletons. The reward indicates Martians are intelligent, peaceful, and capable of communicating with humans. It is unknown whether "Martian" indicate native Martian life, or simply refer to humans who have colonised Mars.
 * During the boss battle and in the ending screen, a completely different music theme from the rest of the game plays, which is dark and interspersed with malevolent laugher.
 * Although it displays as -66666 ft., by measuring squares, the bottom of Hell is at -7400 ft. In real life, this is less than 0.07% the way to the Martian core.