F-Zero: League of High Speed Chases

Hello everyone, and welcome to the next installment in the quest of completing F-Zero! I now have my own 16-Bit likeness to follow beside my postings, huzzah!! Ahem...

So, I had an... Interesting time, to put it lightly with the Knight League. I destroyed in the first 3 levels, and then fell off the wagon for the last two. But I still achieved the completion! And so now I'm onto the Queen League.

Stage number one was Mute City II, and like my run through of Mute City I, I handled it very well. I started off behind Mr.Yellow-I'm-Always-Right-Behind-You dickhead, but I passed him because of the very handy long straight line we were given. See, I also looked at the other car's stats before I started this playthrough, and I learned that Mr.Yellow-I'm-Always-Right-Behind-You has a slightly faster acceleration speed than me, and a lower max speed. That's why he always pulls ahead! Dur. But I didn't choose that car, I stuck with the Blue Falcon, because, goddamnit, it's Captain Falcon. Mute City II was fun and not too difficult. It contains a section where the road splits into a circle, so you can choose to go right or left. I always went right because I kept myself close to the edge of the racetrack so my turns would be shorter and sharper.

Needless to say, 1st place was mine.

Port Town I caught me off guard. It seemed simple enough, the track didn't look too ambitious, and the beginning was a pretty straight line for a bit. However, what I did NOT know what that there is a long strip of gravel road (a bunch of dark grey splotches that slow you down) just after the 'healing strip.' There is a jump pad to leap over said patch, but I was on the left, when I should've been on the right. So I was passed by Mrs.Stupid-Green-and-Yellow-Car-That-Rarely-Causes-Problems and Yellow-face as they both soared over me freely.

The next section was windy and involved constantly swirving around turns. However, just to make turning interesting, they also threw a few magnet strips along the edges, which pulled you in towards the wall. The best means to counter this is to hold your drift button (L or R) to lean yourself in the opposite direction of the pull. I was bounced around by a few of these, but I made it out without losing too many places. I finished the first round in 3rd place, but I was catching up to Green-n-Yellow, and I passed the green guy in the flight over the gravel pit. I couldn't see Mr.Yellow-I'm-Always-Right-Behind-You for most of the 2nd lap, but I was catching up as we started lap 3. The leap over the gravel was where I took him out.

See, as we flew, my speed was greater than his so I flew beside him and then checked him to the side. I didn't see him the rest of the race, and I improved my lap times significantly! So victory was mine yet again.

So those were the first two levels of Queen's League, sorry for the short post, and the incredible amount of time between posts... But, life, and busy... Blah-blah, excuses. Next time, I will finish the League!

Catch ya later gamers

F-Zero: 16-Bit Warrior... With A Vengeance!

Hello internet! It's been... Months! The craziness of life is just too damn much sometimes, y'know? I don't want to do a lengthy excuse of my absence, or any of that jazz; just know that I will do my best to be back on this here blog at least once a week! If not more. If any of you gamers are still lookin' at us, I hope you'll continue along for the ride and tell your friends to come check us out with saying "And they'll actually keep blogging! For reals!"

But you don't need to say 'For reals'... Cuz I don't think people actually say that... ANYWAY!

So when we left off I was going to go into a cry-fest of how badly I failed at the next couple of tracks in F-Zero. However, I completely forgot the woes I had endured, and so we will pick up where we left off with a new fresh impression. 

I did exceptionally well I thought at tackling the first two levels again; Mute City and Big Blue. I would say my experiences were largely the same (with the exception that I wasn't surprised by things.) Next we came to the Sand Ocean.

Sand Ocean taught me about corners. I remember why I hated it so much. There are these thin parts where you have pull tight curves. You have to release the acceleration, turn AND use the drift (L or R.) It is stressful, but when you make one of the tight turns without hitting a wall or another car it is SO satisfying. That's another thing that this game has going for it. It makes you feel good for when you succeed; because it's all about skill. You have to develop your skill at maneuvering these flying cars through these hazardous race tracks. Of course, I did not get through this course unscathed. I smashed walls, bounced off of others cars, went careening in directions for reasons I can only assume were momentum... But I came out on top! 

 I spent the entirety of that course in 3rd or 4th, but on the second last lap I got into a groove and pulled ahead to take victory. Just barely as you can see above. I remember when I raced this track those months ago I died twice. I have clearly improved by 'sitting on it' as they say.

The next track was aptly named Death Wind I. This track was frustrating as hell because if you look at the map - it looks incredibly straight forward. It's even more basic than Mute City! What makes this track difficult is the- wait for it- wind! On the long stretches of track the wind is constantly blowing you towards one of the walls. You have to constantly be drifting against it. Also, there are speed boosts (anyone who is familar with Mario Cart knows that drill - glowing arrow, zoom zoom.) But here's the kicker: if you hit a speed boost and you're drifting, you'll go FLYING into the direction you're drifting, and smash into a wall. Now, you may thing "Well, just don't hit the speed boost.' WRONG. Because every goddamn other car hits that speed boost, and you appear to be the only one whose car is being battered by wind. So if you miss a boost, you will be passed.

I spent the majority of this course in the lead. I had gotten the hang of the driving, and I clearly had figured out my problems from before. I knew where to drift, I knew which patches of gravel to avoid (all of them) and I knew how to turn well. But somehow I bumped something on the last lap, last corner, and got passed. By two cars. Brutal. So mad. Not pleased. Moving on.

Silence. This track should be called "How many right angles can we fit on a racing course?" Apparently it's quite a few. I wouldn't really have imagined racing on a track with square corners, why would you? That just seems like poor design, and dangerous, and stupid.

 Nonetheless, here we were, racing along some terribly sharp corners. Of course these weren't the only obstacle. There was also a HUGE gravel section that had to be leapt over. There is a small blue bar that launches you over it all if you've picked up enough speed. You may also notice that there is a section that you can turn off to at the top of the track; DON'T. It's a lie. It's a trap. Whatever you want to call it. If you go down it, you won't be able to turn and have enough speed to make it over the gravel pit and whatever time you saved will be lost. I did not do that on this run... I remember making that mistake before. What I DID do this run was pretty stupid. I missed the jump. I did not drift over far enough and I drove all the way over the gravel which slowed me all the way down and I was passed by two cars... Again. So I came in third after spending the majority of the game in the lead. No luck for this guy, I tell ya.

This isn't a screenshot of my original race, I took it in practice so you guys could see the map.

I cursed my folley and grumbled as the race finished. The game then recounted for me the stats of the past 5 races: so here we are.

 Mute City

Big Blue

Sand Ocean

\

Death Wind I

Silence

Not too terrible, apart from bombing the end of the last two courses... But I completed the Knight League. I'm not 100% happy with my performance, so I MAY redo it to get 1st on all the courses... But my next mission is to tackle Queen League, so get ready for some more high velocity action!

Catch ya later gamers.

P.S. Man it is nice to be back; it's a great feeling playing these old games. Thank you to everyone who kept popping in and looking at our blog even while we were away, hopefully we can keep you coming!

ME0: A Real Life 16-Bit Warrior

 Greetings Gamers!

I just wanted to let you know that JO3 and I are still alive. In fact, a few days ago we had a lovely night out for steak and followed up with several hours of video gaming (like we do). I'm currently on the road performing a puppet show, and I just had some time to sit and think about my blog recently while showing a friend the video games we've been playing.



Just wanted to let all of you know that the blog isn't dying or going on "permanent hiatus" or anything like that. J03 is in his final throws as an acting student, and I'm on a really busy tour. Come April, we'll be alive and kicking. But I assure you, gamers, that we'll be trying to post as often as we can.

Gaming's already our life, so its a no-brainer that this blog is the least stressful thing in the world when it comes down to it. So, expect to see more of us, and I'm looking into making some sweet aesthetic changes to the site as well. Thanks for your patience and your viewership.

More 16-Bit Adventures are coming!

OH, and I found this on the internet, it might be a bit old by now, but I just thought..."Wow, THAT is a real life 16 Bit Warrior. Proud of you buddy."

Oh, and if I can get my funds in order this summer, I'll be attending Comic-Con and E3. I'm thinking my costume choice is pretty obvious....Steampunk Link!

See you soon, gamers!

Game ON!

-ME0

ME0: No, It's Not A New Cinnamon Chewing Gum

So after much thought I have decided to follow in JO3's footstopes and step outside of the sidescroller genre for my next game. I didn't want to start taking on obscure ones quite yet (as I have heard from many friends that this will likely be a problem later if we hit all of teh mainstream ones too early) because there is one game I started to play about three years ago and lost my copy of it. So now I'm bringing it back and I plan to see it through to the end. It's one of my favorite RPG series out there, as it is ripe with story, heart, and a unique gameplay.



Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you (if you actually read this instead of went from picture to picture :P) Breath of Fire!

Work on this game of dragon-filled awesomeness starts as soon as possible. Also, take a look at that cover art! I was blown away when I looked it up because it is far more epic than the cartoony style that the games are well known for. Nevertheless, I'm super stoked. This is gonna take a while, but I am dedicated to kicking its arse one way or another.

Keep on gaming gamers.



PS: We have added a few new features to our blog. We now have begun a list of defeated games so readers can keep track of what we've done already. We also have a page with tips and tricks for the games we've beaten, feel free to click and check them out.

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: 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: Shady Business

This was a really fun level; had interesting fights, different environments, and was just a damn good time to go through.

The level started in a forest, which was not really suprising to be honest. I made my way along and killed some hopping robots, and destroyed that guy with the axe who threw chunks of a pillar at me (See post: Penguin)! I blazed through the first chunk of the forest, and then came to a gap which entered into a large tunnel inside a large hunk of rock (Or 'mountain' as some would call it.)

I was hoping for an upgrade of some kind so I checked down the side of the gap, and the camera moved down with me, so I was hopeful. However, all that was there was a wall I could break with a wall jump, and then a really, really long gap. It was too far to jump over, and the camera also didn't pan down if you tried. Not sure what it's there for really. I sincerely doubt Mega Man gets the power of flight.... Or does he...?

Anyway, so I went the opposite direction (Up) in search of power, and a I was met with a mini-boss!

This guy took a LONG ass time to die, I'll tell ya. Mainly because I could only hit in square in the face with a blast to hurt him. He had two things he could do; either he'll jump through the air quite slowly, and land where you were standing when he jumped, OR, he lifts his arm signalling that he is going to reach out his hand to hit ya and then sends it out rather slowly. The only times I got hit were when I got a little impatient and kept jumping and shooting his head when should've just moved. He blew up none the less, and then I acquired new and improved armor! I now take 50% LESS damage! Whoot! I guess this Dr. Light or what-have-you knew how to build a deadly robot.

Now that I was suited up, I entered the mountain. There were falling rocks which turned into robot humanoids who threw rocks at me. Scary. This was over quickly, and then I hopped into a Mech!

Last time I was in a Mech (See again: Penguin) I complained that I was in it for too short a time. This gallivant was not 'lengthy' by any stretch, but it was longer. It may have been partly due to the long sections of mud which I sunk into and slowed my speed greatly. I could dash along the top of the mud for a bit before I sunk too low, as well as smashing anything that got in my way, including other mechs. After escaping the mud field I came face to face with the boss (yes there was a boss door.) Good ol' Sting Chameleon.

That missed.

He's a fast bugger, to be sure, he also rarely stops moving, which makes it kind of difficult to peg a shot off on him. He could turn invisible and when he did that I also couldn't damage him, even if I knew where he was. When he was invisible he could do three things:

1. Move into a corner and hurl three green spikes at me
2. Move towards me and flick out his tongue
3. Drop down to the ground and growl/attack

Needless to say, it was an annoying battle. I had to keep moving and have a charge shot ready for when he appeared so I could hit him with it. These didn't feel like it would be the easiest method though, so I cycled through my powers... Again, I did not have a power which did SUPER EFFECTIVE damage to him. However, I did find that the Missile power I just got from the Octopus sent out Heat-Seeking missiles! Which means I could launch them any direction and as long as Sting Chameleon wasn't invisible, the missile would flip around and hit him. Haha! Take that!

2 more bosses to go! And I'm guessing 2 more upgrades to go. I'm slowly changing from the plain ol' Blue Mega Man to the Mega Man X on the cover, with white and gold armor. I need a new helmet and a new buster cannon. I'm excited to find them. Catch ya later gamers.