Currently reading the manual... I've played this game a lot but never actually read the manual before... wow the story is actually a lot better than I thought. Dr. Cain found Dr. Light's abandoned laboratory, where a capsule containing the code to create self-aware robots like X was stored and self-maintained... Cain used this to create a bunch of "reploids" meant to help serve humans... but then some of these reploids went maverick and started attacking humans. Eventually even Sigma, the leader of the maverick hunter team that Cain set up, eventually betrayed him and joined the mavericks... X, angry with the current events, starts going out to hunt the mavericks himself...
the rest of the manual doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know.. but I can really appreciate now how good a job it does at describing the game's features using in-game lore... stuff like an "escape unit" made by Dr. Light that lets X escape from levels, but only the ones that he's fully been through before... also it brings up how the new convenient weapon-switching system using L and R is a thing that wasn't possible using the older technology of the first MM generation...
also I love how ironic it is that the "X" button is the only button that doesn't do anything in a game starring a character named "X". (although I'm aware you can change the controls, the manual doesn't mention this button at all though)
also a bunch of other new things, like wall climbing, dashing/long-jumping, subtanks, heart tanks...
"The X-Buster is similar to the Mega Buster..."
one of the Dr. Light notes says that there's another feature that lets you upgrade the X-Buster's power, but says it's not done yet and he'll "add it later".
so with only reading the manual and nothing else... let's prepare how i'm gonna play through this...
CHILL PENGUIN
LAUNCH OCTOPUS
ARMORED ARMADILLO
SPARK MANDRILL
STING CHAMELEON
BOOMER KUWANGER
FLAME MAMMOTH
STORM EAGLE
SIGMA
love this intro... also I seem to be a lot better at this game now than before I plated through the classic MMs... all of the surprise enemies that appear in this intro stage, I used to think you were supposed to just some of them and rely on the energy pickups but no, I see now that with good reaction time you can deal with them all before they have a chance to damage you... at least until you come to the boss... it's not even in an isolated chamber like most bosses, and it overpowers X so much you can't do anything BUT tank hits... then you get saved by the new leader of the maverick hunters, Zero.
He cheers up X, telling him he'll be stronger once he regains all of the powers Dr. Light designed him with... "I'll scout ahead and collect as much information on Sigma's fortress as I can."
got passed Chill Penguin, only losing one life due to falling off a pit while trying to slide-jump with the mech. boss almost killed me due to dash bing on A and not R...
oh and there's a couple of things at the mech section that I need to get to with the mech but can't..
oh what... how did I never know about this? going to "Spec" on the boss select screen and pressing B, you'll see some info on each boss. Ht, Wt, Attacks... but also... oh no wait. I read "Slide" under the penguin's attacks and thought it referred to the fact that you get the slide move in his stage.. but actually Slide, and "E. Drain" on Launch Octopus, probably refer to another of their attacks.
holy shit I forgot how hard this Launch Octopus level is... well just this one part. there's a repeat submarine miniboss in this level... and the 2nd time you fight him you're on a very narrow platform where he can easily suck or blow you into spikes... I got game over there a couple times... the 3rd try the game start handing out free lives, and it only took me 2 attempts this time because I finally got a hang of the timing for it... then I almost died at this hidden airship miniboss that you could get to by riding one of the jets.. it leads to an alternate path, but I didn't take that path this time because I assumed it would be harder and I'm gonna have to beat both paths eventually anyway... if it ends up just being a dead end side path with a capsule I guess I made the wrong decision oh well.
then there's a robot worm boss that digs out of the ground and chases you if it sees you... I only had one hit left but was easily able to avoid getting hit here. then there's just some more of those kirby fish and the boss door.. no way to restore my health..
also holy shit Launch Octopus himself killed me quite a few times... I can see how I used to think he was easy though... once you figure out the key strategy is actually to stay close to him so that you shoot him whenever he lands on the ground, and then when he launches his homing projectiles, you should have enough space behind you to dash away and then turn back and shoot/dodge some of them while heading back towards where you were... see I was doing the opposite and staying away from him the whole time, and then he corners me with his projectiles + him jumping to the other side of the screen...
and yeah the ice weapon wasn't much use here..
Armored Armadillo stage is pretty easy except... I keep getting killed at these super fast mine carts that send you into spikes/pits if you stay on them too long... and the 3rd one in the level you HAVE to go on. I tried skipping it at first but then couldn't get across the last huge pit to the boss door...
wow... I used up like all my homing missiles on that tunnel digger thing and still couldn't kill it in time to get the heart tank
jk nevermind it's easy to get if you use the x buster and just spam shots while walking close behind him.
holy fuck that boss means business.. I didn't even have the chance to damage him before he killed me (and I started at full health)
WOW... that boss took a long time to finally beat with just the X Buster... I don't even know how many game overs...
the ice shot can hit him pretty easily in his standing phase, but does such weak damage it's useless.. the missiles are even worse since he almost always blocks those...
it's really just a game of endurance... once you figure out the optimal strategy of just pelting him with medium charge shots whenever he's standing and before he gets a chance to start shooting at you... he'll usually block your charge shots, but then he starts charging his attack and you get an easy-ish opportunity to hit him with a medium charge shot then dodge his charge shot completely... even once I knew that, his roll-bouncing around the room was really hard to avoid while high.. and he would sometimes stop bouncing unexpectedly while I'm wall climbing and just about to fall back down to the floor... but just like the early game it's something that can be perfectly mastered and done with no-damage...
It felt SO satisfying once I finally managed to beat him... maybe now I'll finally start having some of the boss weaknesses..
Spark Mandrill's stage is easy so far... died once at that water mine midboss, then beat him easily by using homing missiles while focusing on dodging...
then those really fast annoying light enemies that show up whenever the power goes out... you can kill them but the timing is REALLY difficult, and there's almost no way of avoiding them...
lmao Spark Mandrill is a complete joke with the ice shotgun... I kinda wanna see what this boss is like with just the X Buster though.
Sting Chameleon... there's an upper path here I need to check out... eh well I'm on my last life so I may as well...
it's... the easiest boss in the game... literally his pattern is exactly two moves that are easy to dodge and never change... and beating this gets me the 50% damage reduction capsule... this would've been WAY useful earlier lmao...
so I guess the optimal (easy) way through this game is Chill Penguin first so you get dashing power, then Sting Chameleon so bosses don't kill you as quickly...
btw the rolling shield is really good... it does actually kind work like a shield because it has such a wide hitbox and kills even the toughest normal enemies in like 2 hits..
oh and this stage also has a mech suit in it too... I wonder if that was intentional, making the two stages with the most useful capsules also both the easiest stages and both having mechs...
I beat Sting Chameleon without much trouble. using X Buster cuz the other attacks were too weak/too hard to hit him with..
Boomer Kuwanger was fucking easy with the homing missiles, and again I have no idea how hard he would've been with the X Buster.
even with all the weapons I have now, his stage was more annoying than difficult/fun, and I also have to come back here again for a heart tank I couldn't get.
holy shit Flame Mammoth is a joke... every weapon I have is easy to hit him with.. I have some that do decent damage but nothing that kills him in a few shots... spamming the boomer cutter and the missiles while dodging his easy attacks made this fight go by like nothing. oh and the stage was retardely easy too... I kinda think there should've been instant death pits or somethint to make it harder... most of the time you can just safely walk along the bottom path (and in fact that's where a heart tank was, out in the open... even if you take the upper paths, all the metool/hammer bro enemies are easy to deal with especially with the current arsenal I have...
before I forget again.. may as well go back to Launch Octopus and go down that secret path... yep it's a dead end with a heart tank... you have to fight another one of those swimming worm midbosses.. he's a bit trickier because of the spike pits now, but when I learned you could ride ontop of him (and this arena is much bigger so there's more room to do that) he goes down easily...
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