Saturday, July 6, 2013

Revengeance: Samurai Warriors 2 and Mega Man 1's Rock Monster

Today I'm revisiting a couple of games that I played recently, as I put right what once went wrong and try to finish something that I couldn't before. One is the last stage of Samurai Warriors 2, the other is the Rock Monster / Yellow Devil / Pillsbury Doughboy of the first Mega Man. Can I overcome these obstacles?



If you missed them, here are the original posts for these games:



And now, the conclusion(s).


Resuming my Samurai Warriors 2 save. Going to try that damn final stage again...

Uh oh, one of my officers is struggling! He must have run into a pair of random jobber foes. Those jobbers are deadly!

The save is most of the way through the level (just Sakon and Nene left, I believe) but I'm intentionally throwing the battle so I can go run a Free Mode level and get a better horse, then try this again for real.

...that didn't take long. While I was typing the previous two sentences, someone died, so the battle is over.

 Getting this guy, big speed improvement over the n00b-horse.

I also picked up a Shrine Maid. After the battle, Kotaro will show the supple miss why they call him The Japanese Dhalsim. Of his prowess, legend shall travel far, much like his penis.

Free Mode level. Don't mind playing one of these to get back into the swing of things.

Truly, he is -Pretty Soldier Sailor Kotaro-

Level 26, up from 23 before. Back to the last level with me.

But first, I'll blow through the rest of my gold. Gotta power up this weapon, for one. Wish I had gotten another version of the Demon Claws, because this one isn't the best. Got a bunch of Ride+ on there, a stat which isn't exactly a priority. Then again, maybe that's good for this level, since I need to quickly run around saving the officers from themselves.

The final battle rages! Shubuda shi shi shiiinamo!

Let's fighting looooove! Let's fighting loooooove!

He's rescued... but for how long? Beware, he might run into a lone trooper somewhere and suffer a horrific beat-down.

Nene falls. Ya know, since he let Kotaro use his bony hands, Hanzo should demand that Kotaro lend him his handy boner.

By the way, six enemy officers materializing in your camp immediately after you defeat Nene? That's bullshit.

Kotaro furiously rides! Usually, I am the one being furiously ridden, so this is a change of pace.

 Ginchiyo falls! ...those are some creepy arms. With that, I have officially gotten further than I got on previous attempts. A few extra levels made a world of difference, and a faster horse also helped. Biggest help was saving Naomasa near the beginning. This meant the northeast guy ended up getting owned, but nowhere near as badly as Naomasa would have been in the same time.

There's a win, in one try no less. Well, one thing is clear. I wasted two and a half hours reloading a mid-battle save until I gave up on this before, when what I should have done is go power up a little more, return, and try things differently.

And then it, uh, went to black screen and stayed there. I'll go youtube his ending...

Man, this guy is a piece of work. Kotaro is like Honey Badger in that he gives zero fucks.

And now, onward to the next game I sought vengeance upon.

I may have just played this game a week or so ago, but unfortunately the game doesn't have passwords so I need to start over from the beginning. The goal here is to take down the Rock Monster without cheating. If you remember, I didn't do that in the post on this game, nor have I ever in the past. Well, it's time to give it a real shot. 

I play through the six original stages quickly. Just want to get back to Wily Stage 1. Remember how NES games used to have rooms like this? As a kid, single-block platforms would scare me. 

"Clear Points" are what you'd get for finishing a stage. Has no effect on the game. This was back in the day when people cared about their score; it was replay value for some. As for Ice Man, he has no relation to Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell.

 Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell Note: Not actually weak to Elec Beam.

Wily Stage 1 is very short, but the beginning is particularly annoying. Need to sneak past a few of these things, and they take off a third of your health meter if you bump into them. Protip: If you jump as soon as they hit the ground, their next jump will be high. At least, as far as I can tell. This is how I ran past them without getting clobbered. 

This unassuming hallway leads to one of the worst death-traps in the history of NES games. I wonder how many first-time players were chugging along, got to this point, and proceeded to be obliterated in seconds. 

...by the Yellow Devil. Or Rock Monster. Or whatever it's called. THIS BATTLE SUCKS.

This calls for a very specific song.

A song usually associated with destroying printers, but today, it's for destroying the worst boss in the history of the 78-game Mega Man series.

Alright, no cheating this time. I'll still use the Elec Beam, but I'll use it in a straight-up way rather than mashing select. This boss is weak against said Elec Beam, but I use the word "weak" loosely. The EB does twice as much damage to the Yellow Devil as a regular shot. It also does the same amount of damage as the YD's attacks do to you. Meaning both you and the YD can take seven hits. Winning is a matter of going at least one wave without taking any damage, and it ISN'T EASY AT ALL. Luckily, every wave follows the exact same pattern, so once you memorize that, it becomes possible to win the fight. However, memorizing the pattern and the timing takes many attempts.

AUGH. Most of my attempts ended at the same exact point, with the boss just under half health. 

If you take damage, it's often possible to use the momentary invincibility time to run behind the boss (on the side where it is breaking apart). This spares you from taking more damage.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

DAMN IT! DAMN THIS FIGHT ALL TO HELL! 

On this go - or one of the goes where I got the boss down to where it had one Elec Beam hit remaining - I did most of the damage without taking any hits in return. Things fell apart at the end as I got nervous, but it showed me that I was learning the pattern.

Finally, on the 15th or so try...

BLAM BLAM BLAM! I'mma keep firing until I'm out of ammo, like that one scene in Predator.

DIE M*********F********* DIE!

"He's gone! Chill out, man! HE'S GONE!"

::pants::

...Also, I got 100000 Clear Points.

6 comments:

  1. Good job!

    While I personally love the Mega Man games, I've actually never played this first one. I can't even remember which ones I've beaten, except that I remember that that I have beaten Mega Man 2, 3, and 5 (and possibly more). I also remember that one of the games had a Rock Monster redux tha I did beat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It was probably MM3 you're thinking of. The Mega Men with Rock Monster reduxes are MM3, MM8, MMX5, MMV, and possibly Rockman and Forte (Megaman and Bass). I'm probably forgetting one...

      Delete
  2. YOU GOT HIM! YES! I am avenged!
    I know what you mean about getting nervous and worse when you're about to win something way too difficult.
    So the key here is pattern recognition and memorization, like in the rest of the series.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This post wins just for "And now, the conclusion."

    ReplyDelete
  4. That outline of the Rock Monster that is left behind always creeped me out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, me too. I half expect him to re-form and attack again.

      Delete