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.

Super Metroid: Die alien vermin and space golems!

So I logged about an hour and a half on Metroid today. Most of it was spent going from my save point to the golem that's guarding the morph-ball bombs, dying, then doing it again. Finally, after I decided to stop sucking at fighting this mini-boss and use some real strategy I beat him. Then I got killed by wall-crawlies only a few rooms away, having to start from the save point all over again.

Now, about save points. I have played many games with this feature and most of them strategically place them so when you finish something really hard, you save, and you never have to face that horror ever again. Unfortunately, in Metroid, this was not the idea. The save points are more like off-the-beaten-path rooms that you have to go well out of your way to get to, so obviously you're thinking to yourself...well I have two full energy tanks, why bother saving. Oh wait, the giant plant eyeball boss is in your way!

PS: Here's my WTF of the day.

I don't know what this is about yet, but I have a feeling I'll figure it out later. As of now, it seems a bit early in the game for such huge mysteries. I might just be dumb, but I personally was weirded out by this monstrosity's appearance. 

Moving along. I did defeat the giant plant eyeball thing and I felt pretty good about myself up until I discovered the super missile and promptly got killed by those little egg sacks that spit baby egg sacks. Sending back to the save point quite a ways before the eyeball thing, but (thankfully) after the killer golem. So I saved and shut the game off, and shaking off my rust before getting back into it.

Oh, and another thing. I've discovered (due to all my deaths) that Super Metroid has got to be the only game in history to have a slightly positive twist on player death...

Yes...Samus's armor explodes and you get a brief glimpse of her in her bit-sized skivvies. I personally found this weird. I pulled the image off of this guy's blog, btw. If you want more extensive information on Metroid and it's history I suggest checking it out:

http://metroidgameculture.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Anyways. Until next time, I'll be hoping for space pirates and killing stupid ceiling jumpers.