Mega Man X: Grand Finale!

So here we are team. Last boss. Sigma. He's a big ol' jerk. And he has 3 different stages for the fight. I am thankful that the whole stage itself was essentially just the boss battle; because I did NOT want to have to deal with any mini-punks.

I beamed into this... Pit? A rather thin pipe that I had to wall jump up. There were these two holes that little robo-worms popped out of. Every one of them would either drop health, ammo for powers or an extra life. So I spam killed them until I was satisfactorilly stocked up.

Eventually I popped up into the room where Sigma appeared with his little robo-dog. He talked a little bit in regular bad guy fashion, then he call me a traitor!

What the hell!? Who did I betray? And when!?

Gawd, what I bastard. So he vanished and left his dog to do his dirty work. Well; this dog is annoying, I'll tell ya. He had a fair amount of moves at his disposal. He could leap at me, run at me, shoot glowing blues balls up and over at me, launch a large flame curve downwards and upwards at me. I could avoid his attacks easily enough, but his leaping was hard to gauge sometimes; and if I crept up the wall, he would jump up towards the wall, back and forth before dropping down.

Hitting him with a charged shot would knock him back a bit, but hitting him with an ice shot did a helluvalot of damage. So I switched between the two and took him down. Sigma re-appeared and threw off his cape and pulled out a ligthtsaber. And then we started the fight.

He began by lounging forward at me, and so I jumped up the wall. Then he jumped up the wall, back and forth. He hit me and knocked me down. I shot at him and (because he has a lightsaber) he deflected my shots. I started a charge shot and jumped on the wall again. He leapt up at my and I shot him. It hurt him, but but he kept coming and he killed me. So this began a series of unfortunate events... Or, I suppose of series of X dying. His leaping back and forth just seemed so erratic, it was so hard to predict where he would go and he kept hitting me, and dealing a top of damage! Gah.

Eventually I took a break and took a step away from the game.

I came back and thought of how I could hit him when he was in the air. The Ice-shot, the Boomerang all had means of striking out in angles I couldn't normally hit. Since I used much of the Ice-shot against his pup, I knew that power ran out pretty quick, so I didn't use it right away. I did find the Boomerang very useful though, because it would swing around up and hit him.

The boomerang was not strong enough, and I couldn't quite finish him off by the end of the power. So I switched to the Ice-Shot and shot him a few times. I really found the rhythm of his leaping, and could avoid him fairly easily now. And so I finished him off with a good amount of health left.

He exploded and I was very happy. But, of course, that was not the end. After the explosion cleared his head was floating in the center of the room with a stupid grin on his face. He floated up and the back of the screen lit up revealing a large... Robot-Dog-Headed-Floaty-SpikeHandy-Thing. His head joined with the canine head and the battle began.

He had two floating platform (hands) which opened up and shot lightning up and down, or flew down at me. I could jump on these in order to rise up on level with the head and shoot it (with a fully charged buster shot.) The platform would open and lightning blast me off often though, so I had to get used to leaping off of them. The head could also breathe fire down at me in a slow arc, or shoot large electric orbs which had a rather slim margin of error in dashing between. Through these combinations of attacks I found myself defeated a number of times.

Luckily I had those robo-worms to farm at the start of the level each time I died, so I stocked up on health, power and lives.

Eventually I found that I could wall jump up to the platforms (instead of waiting for them to float down) and I could continuously damage him with the Rolling Shield. As long as the platform wasn't directly touching the wall I could leap off of it when it shot lightning and back onto it to continue my onslaught. This strategy worked wonderfully, and I brought Sigma to another explosion. Again, in solid bad guy fashion he had a little bit to say before he died; but he did ask some very provocative questions.

I don't know! Haven't you been reading my progress!? No one tells me anything!

So I let the baddie explode, and I teleported away, conveniently on a cliff-face many miles away. From there I saw Sigma's fortress crumble into the ocean and then explode in brilliant light.

Now... If I can teleport so far away, so easily, why do I have to go through levels at all? Can't I just teleport into the bosses rooms?

Then some nice Bit music started to play, and some epilogue details started to crawl up the screen, again, questioning why we did this whole thing.

"Those who sacrificed themselves will never return." ... Doesn't Zero have his own series now? Also, you should say "never be forgotten" it puts more of a positive swing while keeping the weight of the words... But that might just be me.

The epilogue ends saying that the X-buster on his arm knows the answer. The GUN on his arm knows the answer to whether he will have to keep fighting... I wonder what the gun will say? NO, DON'T USE ME, I WANT TO BECOME POINTLESS. But, then again, ya never know.

So the credits rolled, and there were some names and stuff, and then they ended and I was greeted with this smiling face! (Accompanied by some rather creepy music.)

!!! A sequel!? No way!

And that concludes my trip through Mega Man X. I hope you all enjoyed the adventure as much as I did! I had a lot of fun with the game, I can see why it is held in high regard among those lists of "Best SNES games." The action is alot of fun, and the 16-Bit graphic style is quite lovely. My only gripe is story... But, I suppose that's what RPGs are for!... I don't think I'll do an RPG next though, judging by the amount of time I've been able to settle down and play last month, it'll be best to get a less time consuming game out of the way... But which one? If anyone has any ideas, throw them out in the comment section below, I'd be happy to see what you're all thinking.

Catch ya later gamers!

Mega Man X: Holy Boss-Battles Batman!

So I demolished the rest of the old bosses in this one level, and fought a new robo-beast; which ended up having me face 6 boss fights in one level! SIX. I was running low on all counts of powers and energy tanks as the level progressed. It also felt like the bosses were a little more difficult than the first time I fought them... not that I DIED a whole lot. The fights just felt harder.

The first boss door (which again was pretty much as the start of the level) was the Armored Armadillo. I knew I had to electrocute him with my lightning shot to get rid of his armor, and then continuously do so until he died.

Don't worry, I'm not invisible, I just got hit by his forehead shot.

After defeating Armadillo, I made my way through some baddies and got myself to full health; just in time for the next boss door (which was pretty much a single hallway away.)

And within this doorway was that bastard who can actually turn invisible: Sting Chameleon. He was just as annoying as I recall, the first time we fought. Only THIS time, I found his weakness!

THE BOOM!... erang.

So I made my way out of his chamber, down a little drop where there was some health behind some pipes. I used the boomerang to snag them up (that thing is all kinds of handy, ain't it?)

Onto the next boss! Here I had to face off with Spark Mandrill! I already knew his weakness, so I could use my wonderful Ice Shot to freeze him whenever he was getting to close for comfort. I did not leave the battle unscathed however, as each one of his flying punches would knock me off the wall if I tried to avoid them that way.

You know what killed the dinosaurs? The ICE AGE!

So that was 3 bosses down, so I was imagining I would be facing a new boss right away, but I was wrong! I dove down into some water and instantly knew what was coming.

Hmm... I wonder who I'm fighting next?

Oooo... Surprise, surprise.

Octo-whatever his face is was a bastard. I very much did not enjoy fighting him. Mainly because I couldn't figure out his weakness, and also I couldn't remember how I beat him last time. So I switched rapidly through my powers and buster shots, trying to avoid his missiles and keep away from his whirlpool thang.

Then I killed him with his own powers; just for the hell of it.

Then I leapt out of the water and found another boss door. When I entered I saw the conveyor belt and knew right away I was to be facing Flame Mammoth. Last time I didn't have his weakness, and I knew I did this time. As far as I could tell, it seemed the tornado power did more damage to him. I jumped away from his fireballs, and soot shot, and blasted him down as much as I could.

I finished him off at the same time as getting knocked into the air by his fat-ass weight coming down.

So I had finished them all off. All them old guys. And the level wasn't over? Who was I supposed to fight next?... Some rather large robot, T-Rex head thing? This guy was annoying as hell. He killed me a fair amount of times, to be honest. He only had two attacks really. His upper half and lower half would split and move seperately attempting to hit me. The other is if both halves come together and shoot a large electric orb out at you. I had to dash under that one. You can't hang up on the wall to avoid it... It will launch at you.

Also, in trying to jump through the gap of top and bottom, the top would often be too fast and crush down on me, causing a fair amount of pain. How I ended up winning was getting into a rhythm of his movements and blasts; I scrolled through my powers, charging fully as well as I could to do the most damage possible. And in the end, it was still a damn close call.

HUZZAH! I won! Whew... That was DAMN stressful.

But I finished him off, that I did. And was then sent to the boss screen again. This HAS to be the final boss now; Sigma. I'm also curious as to whether I'll get some answers of some plot? Maybe?... Maybe I'm hoping too much. I guess we'll see.

Catch ya later gamers.

Mega Man X: Prepping for Onslaught

Hey gamers, sorry about the mini-hiatus, but life has a way of not giving you any free time sometimes, y'know?

As I said in my last post, I headed back into the older levels to find myself some missing upgrades, and I did just that! I got myself 2 more health upgrades, an energy sub-tank and the super-charge buster cannon.

The health upgrades were both in sight when I first ran through the levels but I just didn't know how to get them. The boomerang got me the one in Kuwanger's level (see Kuwanger), and then I just had to be more of a badass in the Chameleon level and jump into the unknown (see Chameleon.)

For the energy tank, again I needed the boomerang, this time in the Spark Mandrill level. Note: You have to jump in order for the boomerang to curve downward.

The king of all upgrades; the arm upgrade. I said I needed a new buster cannon, and boy did I get a new cannon. This was in the Flame Mammoth level. There were these 'blocks' that I paid no attention to my first play through on the level, and with my new helmet (see Eagle) I could pop through them and get an awesome new toy.

This epic charge shot not only works for the regular buster cannon, but it also gives supped up versions of all my elemental powers. Awesome? I thought so. Let's take a look at what we got!

Here we have the buster shot, becoming a wave of fireball death.

Lightning shot

Then it streaks out in both directions, pretty sweet, huh? This all happens very fast of course.

Super boomerangs! If you really are surrounded and need to hit multiple guys around the screen.

This ones wicked. Fire shoots up infront of you and continues in a straight line. Until the floor runs out, or it hits a wall. Bad-Ass.

Now, this one isn't so easy to tell, but you kinda of gain a phasing quality and attacks pass through you and you can run through bad guys.

Here we have the missles, which launch five homing pirahnas! Sweet.

Alright... So... You create an ice penguin sled. You can ride it! Not sure when this will be useful...

Bubble shield! Simple enough, except I don't think you can attack when you're in it, and I think it only stops one hit. Meh?

Giant whirlwind tornado! So cool, really good at dealing with anything above you or coming towards you.

So there we have it. I'm all set to face Sigma, but I don't have time right, right this moment... So hopefully I will get to it soon. Thank you for the patience and the continuous views, keeps us going! 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.