Mega Man X: First of the Last

So, it was silly of me to think that it was just going to be the last boss right away, I OBVIOUSLY was going to have to go through his mystery hideout and fight legions of baddies, and then take on old bosses again. Why didn't I think of that? Tsk, tsk.

Anywho, it started with meeting up with big ol' Zero. I don't wanna say he's a cocky bugger. But. He's a cocky bugger. "Don't worry X, I'll handle the big guys." "Don't worry X, I'll go first so I can destroy all the big guys who might give you trouble." "Don't worry "X, I'm just viscerally better than you in every way, no big." I'm not bitter.

Ya, that's always a good idea.

So, I make my way, tearing through some robo-turtles. Leap on some floating platforms and make my way up along this floating path, careful not to fall to my doom. I enter Sigma's fortress and begin blowing apart some baddies. Nothing too out of the ordinary here, just had to blast away. I started to realize that I had so many different powers that I could totally start using them to ease my way through the levels. The cyclone power is SO FREAKING SWEET. It protects me from things coming at me, and rips apart any bad guy infront of me, cuz it hits them so many times.

I made my way up to this ladder area and had to deal with some rather annoying moving turrets. I popped up through the ladder though, and Purple-Jackass popped down and was ready to get an ass-whooping when Big Red shows up being a 'hero' (even though I'M the hero of this story... Right?)

You jackass, let me do my own dirty work!

So I follow after them and hear the sound of some charge shotting, and a >thunk<, and I'm thinking "Oh shit, Zero got pwned!" And I hurried forward, and I was mostly right.

Oh, so I guess you aren't so ALL POWERFUL are you, Zero!? Hah!... And I resent your words, Purple-face.

So, Purple-Face managed to get IN his mech and trap Zero in a very short amount of time. After some banter about how I can defeat him, and how I know I can't defeat him, the battle began. However, there was no health bar for Big-Purple-Mech so I didn't get the feeling I was supposed to win again. I was right. When I got me down to near dead he paralyzed me AGAIN, and then picked me up to bring me over to the other side of the screen for... Some reason.

He laughed, and said I was helpless. Then Zero did a big ol' "BUT I'M NOT!!!" And broke free of the prison and exploded them both.

... Well shit, he saved me.

However, Zero only destroyed the mech, leaving Purple-Man for me to deal with. Out of nowhere, I broke out of the paralization and was restored to full health. Baddie says "Where did that energy come from!?" I dunno. Still don't. Plot hole anyone?

Anywho, without his mech, I could easily jump over Purple when he charged, and I could damaged him with all my attacks. I didn't really pick a defined strategy, I just charged up my buster, or switched between powers, and just shot the hell outta him. And thus he died.

Not so tough without your big mech, eh? I tore through you, boi.

So, I washed my hands of Big-Purple and continued on my way, only to find Zero's body... And from the looks of it, his legs were gone. He told me I was stronger than he ever imagined, and then said that "Maybe you can defeat Sigma..." And, I still have NO IDEA who that is! So he faded away and died.

Now I feel bad for those bad things I said. Why'd you have to go and die?

And that WASN'T the ended of the level. I still had to fight some regular bad-guys and leap over some other guys. Again, same old same old. No new faces here. And then I came to a boss room, with an especially familiar face. KUWANGER!

When I entered the room and he started in with his phasing-in-out-dance thing, I was like: "Oh, I know how to deal with you." And he was exactly the same as I could tell. I switched to his weakness (missles) and blasted him away with them. Just for the hell of it, I waited when he was at low health to charge up my missle shot and...

I beat you already, bitch. Eat homing pirahnas!

And that wasn't the end of the level! I still had to continue on and fight more baddies, and lump up some walls, and get annoyed with some turrets and whatnot, but I made it to the NEXT boss in a short amount of time. And boy, was he annoying.

Enter Big-Spider-Robot. He has these four long poles in the room which he manuvers on, and when he exits the screen these little horizontal green bars appear in random patterns between them, somewhat hinted out how he'll approach next. That is sometimes difficult to judge. You think he's going to follow the descending path of bars, but sometimes he'll wipe around and come at you from the top. Other than simple charging down the poles at you, Spider only has one other attack. Which is to throw down four mini-spiders which run at you and are an inconvenience.

The only way I seems to be able to get him was to shoot the moment BEFORE he came to the bottom of his trip downwards, because he scurried up the pole very quickly upon reaching hitting you or not. And forget about hitting him if he hits you. Ain't gonna happen. I'm so glad I got the armor upgrade, because he was still hurting me quite a bit with his obviously excessive body weight.

Ouch. Scary robo-spider moves fast.

Also, he speeds up the more you damage him. Just thought you should know.

But he still dies like everybody else!

So I finally beat him by constantly doing a super-charge of my regular ol' Buster shot, as you can see here.

That was the end of the level. The game returned me to the boss screen again, with the same picture of that Sigma guy... So I'm guessing I'll have a few more levels, maybe 3 bosses per level from now on? I guess we'll see.

Catch ya later gamers!

Mega Man X: A Storm's Coming

I've been playing this game whenever I can because I'm really feeling the need to just beat it. I'm getting excited with each new upgrade, each new power; I really feel like X is growing into a powerful force of nature... Er... Technology. Now it was time for me to face the last of the initial 8 bosses, Storm Eagle. Too be honest he is one of the cooler looking bosses I have so far encountered; and his level was a blast to go through.

I entered the level and was clearly on a roof of some kind. I came up to some platforms on a rotating belt. I had to jump from on to the other and work my way up. However, there were some flammable containers across the way, so I switched to my Flame power and burnt them up. All that was revealed was a large health container. I thought this was rather anti-climactic...

But then there were multiple sections of containers. Majority of them had health, but one had an extra life. Win.

I then followed the platforms given path and came on top of an AIRPORT (which was spelled out for me in great big letters.) There was then a pillar which went up and down with a turret on it. So I killed the turret, and stood atop the pillar as it rose and I was shown this command tower. So I hopped atop it, but there was nothing on it. I thought that was strange so I made my way along, and when I got to the other side I saw an energy sub-tank just in the glass. I fired a missile to hit a floating turret, but it turned around and broke the glass! So I scored the tank.

So that was sweet. I continued on my way and had to leap from floating platform to floating platform. I had to kill a turret every now and then, but they only had a flame-thrower, so I could stay out of range.

At the end of this leaping fest, I noticed another string of flammable tanks. I had to slide down the wall, jump (facing towards it) burn it, and then again before they started exploding... However, after the rather long string of explosions, there was no upgrade. -le sigh-

So I made my way to these metal-fence-towers, and there was a gap I could slip through. There I found more flammable containers, so I blew them up. And low and behold there was an upgrade tank! It gave me a fancy helmet that can breakthrough blocks. And I recalled a spot in an earlier level where there were some blocks... I'll check them out later though. So I made my way onward.

There were some more metal parts to jump on, an extra life which I grabbed up, and some more baddies to kill, but it wasn't so bad. And then entered into an airship through a boss door and thus began to battle with Storm Eagle.

So this guy fly's up, making him rather difficult to hit normally, so I found myself veering to the homing missiles. I did in-fact try out all the powers... But I couldn't really tell if any of them did extra damage, none of them stunned him. His most annoying attack was the dive bomb. He flies away and then shoots down at you from an angle; I dodged this every now and then, and when I did I would manage to get a shot off; although the missile was to slow to catch him so I switched to the ice shot for quick damage. He could also use large wind-gusts to try and push me off the ship (cuz we were now flying) or he could shoot out an egg which hatched into 4 little birds that attacked. I felt like I was in control of the battle and defeated him deftly; I even finished him while he was dive-bombing.

After I defeated him I unlocked the whirling tornado power, which is pretty freaking sweet. But cooler, is that there was small little cutscene after the level! That red-guy, Zero, showed up with me and we apparently for Sigma's Base. I'm assuming that's the bastard that kicked my ass in level one. So we set out to destroy him. However, when it returned to the boss screen, the boss there did not look like armored, mech guy... So... I still dunno who that is.

Before I face this Sigma I'm going to back-track through levels and find more upgrades. I'm sure I can find more health, maybe get another energy sub-tank and I still need to upgrade my buster! Catch ya later gamers.

Mega Man X: The Hell is a Kuwanger?

Kuwanger. Boomer Kuwanger. That's the boss I have set myself against. I don't know how to feel about him really, considering he strikes a pose like a disco-fever maniac. I'm guessing that he's going to have a boomerang attack; call me crazy.

The level started in a metallic room with ladder that I had to traverse upwards along. The was that bugger with the shield and the morningstar arm (see Flame) but I could use the rolling shield and a jump upwards to hit behind him without having to be at risk. So I continued onwards until I came to a laser room.

You see where those small grey things float? Well, between them is a laser line that flashes in and out, and if it hits you then those bigger guys shoot you. I had to dash through them, try and leap over others; at the same time avoiding floating robot pink guys. Uncool. I did manage to make my way through only getting hit a couple times though, so it wasn't so bad.

Next section was a moving platform with spiked walls and spiked obstacles. I'm guessing the spikes were one shot kills, but I didn't want to find out. So I moved my ass side to side as fast as I could.

Again, the floating pink robot heads were buzzing around, purposely getting in my way, and hitting me to try and knock me into the spikes. I manage to make it through that death trap without the death which was fantastic.

I exited out of the spiked elevator and was on the outside of the tower I was climbing. So I began my jumping. I went up and up along the wall, avoiding the turrets that would pop out during my ascent. I climbed some ladders, did some fancy dash-wall-leaps, and then came to another entrance. However, there was a health increase that I couldn't figure out how to acquire.

Try as I might, I could not do any sort of leap-wall-jump combo to get to it, so I continued on my way. This section was pretty short, just involved killing some turrets which were floating on moving platforms, and jumping higher and higher until I came to the boss door to face; Boomer Kuwanger!

I just see him going crazy on the dance floor for Saturday Night Fever or something, don't you? Ya, anyway, I thought the Chameleon was fast! Boomer here jumps around in a blinky-dash-teleport thing. And I was right, he whips a boomerang from his head. He was damn hard to hit, BUT the heat-seeking missiles were his weakness. So every time one hit him, he would get stunned; on top of the large chunk of health the missile would take out. Needless to say, he died pretty fast. And I unlocked a boomerang power!

Now, from previous video game experience (Zelda, in particular) one could use boomerangs in order to pull items that are normally out of reach oneself.... Mental note made. 1 Boss left, you're going down Storm Eagle. Catch ya later gamers.

Mega Man X: Flame

Alrighty, back into the groove. Demolished the Flame Mammoth. For some reason this level felt very quick, but maybe it was just in my head. I started off in this factory area, with conveyor belts which were dropping baddies down along. Some were robot dragon heads, and the if not them than they were the top halves of humanoid robot things which shot at me. I got hit by a stray blast, but I was alright. Pretty well right after the belts there was a drop, but across it was a little orb of full health. So that was awesome.

Then I came to an area that was very similar to the conveyors; except they were just bridges.

I'm going to take this moment to wonder why there are no humans in this game. As far as I can tell, this 'war' I am fighting is against robots, and I am guessing it is for the good of mankind. Why haven't I met any? Where are they? What are they doing if everywhere I go there is an onslaught of robot baddies. Just something I found myself thinking about... Back to the level.

I followed along the bridge, and then there were these robot mole-men miners or what not. They hurled pick axes at me. They threw them exactly where you were though. They were impeccably accurate.

Luckily they died just like everything else with some buster shots. I went in a straight line and killed them all, and then there was thing glowing pink heart under the bridge, so I went back and dropped to the ground level and got a wonderful health increase! This pleased me.

I did some wall jumping then up and up, and then dropped into this piped area which was dropping what looked like lava out of them. I could avoid them, but there were these little weird spikey spinning bastards which circling along the pipe and went back and forth, and I couldn't kill them! My shots would just bounce off of them. This sucked. Then there were these shield buggers. Couldn't shoot them either. They had a morningstar-esk arm, and when they shot it out at me I jumped over it, and then had to rapidfire them to kill 'em. So I had about half-health when I made it through that, and then I was at the boss door. Really short level.

So the Flame Mammoth as he's called is an odd guy. His boss room has a conveyor belt which is annoying. His attacks consist of shooting some fireballs, launching a blob of some dark red soot (I didn't get hit by it, nor did I step into the puddle it left; I'm guessing DON'T.) He also can leap into the air at you. This does ALOT of damage. I did not, unfortunately, have the power which was hit weakness, so I had to beat him down the old fashioned way; using all my different powers in various ways until he died. I would dash away from him when he leapt into the air, keep myself on the wall to avoid his shots. I used the rolling shield I acquired because it curved downward and it worked well. I also used the ice shot because I could should the opposite direction of him and still hit him because it would bounce to him. I finished him off with the rolling shield because it's just a fun power. I also didn't die, so... Ya, awesome.

Now which boss shall I destroy next? Catch ya later gamers.

Mega Man X: Penguin

So I beamed down onto this snowy tundra, and was quickly assaulted by some robot bunnies, wasps and this jackass robot with an axe who shot pieces of a spiked pillar at me. I got hit. Alot. I even came close to dying, but X is too good for that. The X buster is the best. I love charging and then sending out a great big blue blast the size of my body. It tears through baddies like a hot knife through butter... If the butter explodes afterwards that is.

Then I dealt with some leaping and wall jumping and whatnot. Robot bats and killer spiked wheels with angry faces... Thankfully whenever my health was dipping low, some bad guys would drop some health and I would get back to full. Then there was a capsule. Like, a big bacta tank. I approached it and then a hollowgram of Santa Clause in a labcoat appeared; telling me that I was very special and that he was hoping that I could live a life of peace. Except he now realized that I was destined to fight. I still don't know what I'm fighting or why, really. Just that this 'Sigma' is a bad crew. Anyway, he gave me dash boots. Which are awesome. I can finally 'duck' in some kind of fashion! Also, I can jump soooo much farther now.

So away I go, leaping over greater gaps, until I spot an abandoned mech armor. So I obviously jump in. I can dash in that too, but I can't shoot, only punch. I don't take damage though haha! So I demolish an enemy mech, and some bats, and then am met by a wall. I can't jump over it, and I can't punch through it. Lame. Had a whole 30 seconds with the armor. Fine. So I dash through the level, shooting down some robot herons that launch buzzsaws (ya, I know right?).

I came to a large metal door which I could only assume meant it was boss time. And I was right. Chill Penguin he's called. He dropped down from somewhere and then we started to fight. He could shoot ice balls at me that deflect my shots, he can breathe up some ice penguins (conceited much?) which I'd have to shoot to pieces, he sometimes launches himself on a belly slide which

deflects bullets as well, and on top of those options he can leap up to the center of the ceiling and starts a snow storm which blows in one direction and slows me down; ad can launch the ice penguins at me. I kept close to the wall so I could jump up over his attacks, using the wall to stay above his charges. I kept picking him off when he was immune to it, and we were both losing health. However, X is awesome and refuses to die. So even though I had one hit left, I blasted him every time he was about to attack, and finished him off with a quick shot after leaping over his ice shot.

Que victory music, strike a pose, beam up and away. Then I unlocked an ice power! I can now shoot a snowflake which explodes out into a bunch more, which should come in handy.
I suppose I should touch on the 'saving' system now. There is none. It's a password system thing. At the end of each level you get a screen with a bunch of numbers that you're supposed to write down if you plan on shutting the game off.

I can go on and on about one level it seems, and it didn't even take that long to beat, I think I'll cut down on rambling and bet two bosses for my next post. Ya. Catch ya later gamers.

Mega Man X: The First Steps

Alright, so apparently this 'X' is a really big deal. He's an awesome robot with finally realized AI or something. He's also ridiculously dangerous; cuz he's better than humans, and he should avoid hurting them because of rule number one of robots: "A robot shall never harm a human being", which is in a multitude of Robo-literature/cinema (see; Bicentennial Man, iRobot, etc.) Apparently this 'X' is supposed to be kept in some sort of capsule thing while his internal workings are tested. This mysterious "T.Light" fellow warns the reader of this message not to disturb X; and thus the game begins.

Well, X, as it looks, is NOT in a capsule, of any sorts. He starts off by beaming in on a highway with robotic creatures that are attacking him. I made pretty quick work of the robots, thanks to my handy X-buster and it's charge shot. Then I fought a large robot fly, which shot its machine gun at me. I'm so happy I didn't die; thankfully many enemies dropped large amounts of health so I was at full health the majority of the running, jumping, wall leaping and whatnot.

Then came the boss who dropped down from a giant flying ship. It didn't explain who he was, or what he wanted. just that he wanted me dead. And goddamn, he was tough. There was no where to wall jump off of, couldn't jump over him to dodge, and he did a good amount of damage each time he hit me. So I was very frustrated with this fight, and then realized I was supposed to lose when he entrapped me in an electric bubble thing. Then some red guy with long blonde hair named Zero shot off the bad guy's arm, and was very cocky and better than me. So much better than me. Sure he supported me with his words of "You can do it!" But when he said "You might even become as powerful as I am" all I could think was, 'Oh, you ass.'

Anyway... That was just the intro level, and now I'm looking at a menu of different bosses to go and fight... I think I'll roll on the penguin.

ME0: Ready Set Game

Hey blogosphere, it's me, ME0. I'm the co-author/co-founder of this here blog, and since it was my big fat idea I decided to post before J03. We are the 16-Bit Warriors and we're here to deliver to the public a very special kind of service. There will be some entertainment, some online venting, reader participation, polls, contests, and general video game help

What's the big idea? Well! To put it simply, JO3 and I will be playing all 721 mainstream released SNES games. Not just play, but BEAT. Yes, beat. As in defeat, rap, whoop, destroy, and WIN.

I know what you're thinking. When I first came up with the idea, the only question I had was...but how? Some games don't have endings, sports games are infinitely re-playable, puzzle games sometimes go on and on, and some games aren't games, but simulators. Well that's what the blog is for, gamers. When we are about to begin a game that doesn't have a definitive "ending" that's when we turn to our readers and figure out what the equivalent is. An example would be a certain sports game would require us to beat the whole league on the hardest difficulty. Cool? Cool.

So. The challenge has been made (by us, to us), and we have accepted. Today is the first day of a long long road. There will be emotions...broken controllers...bitter girlfriends...the temptation to look up cheats online, but we are going to try and be 100% honest and fun about this. If you're reading, I look forward to your input as the blog progresses. Until then, Game On!

First game on ME0's list?: Super Metroid!

I only have one thing to say for the start of this game so far.

Space Pirates? I hope I encounter them.

Metroid Fans may now proceed with the making-fun.

-----~o~-----ME0-----~o~-----