NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man - Part 3 of 4

We enter Dr. Wily's fortress and give the old man a headache. Nothing unusual here.

Dr. Wily

Stage 1

You'll have to deal with some crusher robots at the entrance to Dr. Wily's lair, so use the Ice Slasher to get past them quickly. Use the Thunder Beam or the Super Fist to clear out the blocks blocking the entrance, and freeze the fire pillars with the Ice Slasher at the right time to make them act like stair steps.

If you need the large health pick-up, use the Magnet Beam to get it. Otherwise, just jump over the spike pits and take the next ladder up.

If you can make it to the top of the ladder before one of the three shrimp bots at the beginning of the next screen hit you, you won't be knocked off of the ladder and into a spike pit. If you need the large health pick-up before the ladder that goes down, get up there with the Magnet Beam and clear the blocks out with Thunder Beam or Super Fist.

The next screen down has some spike traps as well as those exploding bullets flying around again. Don't even bother shooting down these bullets, you'll most likely get hit by the explosion and get nudged right into the spikes. Instead, wait for them to pass on by, jumping over them if necessary.

The next screen down re-introduces the flying platforms that shoot from the side from the Ice Man stage. Instead of a bottomless pit, you have a spike trap at the bottom, which is just as bad. Thanks, Capcom. Use the Magnet Beam here...unless, of course, you're a real man. A real [b]foolish[/b] man. Go up and use the Magnet Beam to get to the next ladder. Make your jumps low so you don't needlessly waste energy for the Magnet Beam on making a makeshift platform you can't reach.

Equip the Thunder Beam and head right to the next room. You're about to fight the Yellow Devil, who would become a Mega Man mainstay over time.

Avoid the blobs that fly to the right, as they take quite a bit of damage.

This is the interesting part. When they make up the entire monster, the red eye in the center of the monster's head finally shows up. Shoot the Thunder Beam at it, and when it connects, rapidly mash on the Select button as quickly as you possibly can. (The Select button let you pause the game without accessing the weapon select, something that is also absent from the rest of the Mega Man series.) Congratulations, you just took advantage of a glitch that does multiple damage on bosses. Try this out on Robot Masters and even Dr. Wily himself when you get there. This will hopefully make the battle against the Yellow Devil mercifully shorter.

Dr. Wily

Stage 2

Three dive-bombing robots will approach you before the first gap, so be careful not to let them respawn while you're taking care of them. There will be two weapon pick-ups at the end. Use the Magnet Beam to get these, otherwise you'll go through the floor and face Cut Man.

Cut Man fights just like he did last time. He's not too hard now, even though you don't have any blocks to throw at him. Just keep plastering him with the regular gun so he's always being pushed back. When you take him down, go all the way to the left to drop through the floor.

Take down the spinning turrets in the next segment with the Thunder Beam. Once again, use the Magnet Beam if you need to pick up the weapon pick-ups here. Go through the floor and you'll face Elec Man.

Elec Man is just as easy (or hard) as he was last time. At least he can't jump over blocks and scare you half to death. The Rolling Cutter will make quick work of him once again. When you beat him, go all the way to the left and drop through the floor once again.

More of those exploding bombs from Bomb Man's stage come out of the bottomless pit yet again. Wait for the debris to explode, then be on your merry way. Go down the ladder, and use the Thunder Beam on the crosses. If you need a 1-Up, use the Magnet Beam to go get it.

Go down here, and you'll meet more crosses. Take them down with the Thunder Beam, then keep to the right as you go down one more screen. Shoot the Thunder Beam at the three crosses and you'll take them all down in one shot (hopefully). Go down the next ladder, and take down all four laser pods with the Thunder Beam with the vertical beam. That'll make short work of them. Going left and using the ladder to replenish the energy for the Thunder Beam with the large weapon pick-up here is well advised. Go down again and you'll deal with three crosses and a laser pod. Take them down, then go down one screen one more time.

You now face the Mega Man clone, and he's really, really, annoying. He moves around a lot, uses the same weapon you have equipped and fires his weapon whenever you do. Go all the way to the left and keep firing the Fire Storm at him. He'll hit you, be he'll go down before you will. If he gets too close, the shield that pops up around you whenever you fire Fire Storm will knock him back. If you run out of ammo for Fire Storm, use the regular gun, as the Mega Man clone can only fire one bullet with that at a time.

Dr. Wily

Stage 3

Take down the crosses and spinning turrets with the Thunder Beam as you work your way down. When you finally make it to the horizontal segment, keep going right and you'll eventually hear water go down the corridor and flood it. Keep going right, as you'll go faster this time due to the current pushing you to the right. Shoot down the penguin-copters and jump over the exploding bullets.

Equip the Super Fist to take down the bubble robots here with the blocks located in the center of the room whenever necessary. The first few are easy to take out with the regular gun, but the others may require the Super Fist as each successive robot here is faster than the last. The last two are really speedy. Their bullets are easy to avoid at the beginning, but that'll be the least of your worries the more you take out, as you won't want the last few bubble robots ramming right into you.

CGRUndertow's review of Mega Man: Powered Up

Mega Man was ported to the PlayStation Portable as Mega Man: Powered Up in 2006. Stinks there isn't a "Powered Up" sequel of any sort.

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man - Part 2 of 4

Oh, boy. There's going to be a lot covered in this entry. Sit down and enjoy the craziness, you'll be watching it for eleven minutes.

Elec Man

(continued)

Once you climb up the ladder after the first door, you'll be waiting for energy beams to disappear before you can go further. Not taking damage here is a much, as taking a hit here will knock you off the ladder and send you back quite a ways, which is really annoying. Thankfully, these chambers are one screen wide in subsequent games.

Equip Cut Man's weapon and throw it at Elec Man. Stay far enough away from him so that you can avoid the electric beams that he fires. He'll go down in a few hits with the Rolling Cutter. You'll get the Thunder Beam in no time!

Ice Man

Welcome to the frozen South. Or something like that. In case you start sliding around uncontrollably, just jump straight up. That'll solve your problems.

The green guys with legs split up if you shoot them at the bottom, sending their heads flying around the screen and coming at you. Shooting them at the top solves that problem. Once you jump into the water, be prepared to face some miniature penguin-shaped helicopters that fly around in sine wave patterns while avoiding some low-lying trap bots. Keep shooting these things for some unnecessary bonus points and the occasional health pick-up.

Once you drop down at the end of this first section, you'll be dealing with a low-lying trap bot while waiting more of those disappearing blocks to show up so you can make it to the other side. This is pretty annoying. Use the cut blade on that robot so you won't have to worry about taking any unnecessary damage. When you drop down at this screen, you'll have to deal with both of these things yet again before you can finally continue on. If for some reason you have the Magnet Beam (the M in the weapon select), you don't have to worry about taking the blocks.

After the second disappearing block segment, you'll have to deal with platforms that move around in the air and shoot in two directions at the same time. The bullets are harder to avoid in the middle of this segment, so once you land on the third platform, be ready to pull out the Magnet Beam again and use that to run to safety. If you're low on energy, stand directly above the large weapon pick-up on the platform in the middle of this part and wait for the Magnet Beam you fired to disappear. You'll deal with some more penguin-copters near the end of this part. If you jump and hold Left on the control pad and do this near the edge of the platform before you drop down, you'll be able to get the 1-Up here easily.

If you need health and weapons pick-ups, use the Magnet Beam on the next screen. That usually helps. Just remember to equip the weapon you're trying to refill.

The next screen down has another Crusher. Walk past that when it makes a high, narrow jump (as always), then go in the door and prepare to take on some more penguin-copters until you reach the door to Ice Man. If you need to, keep standing there and keep on firing so that you can replenish your health and weapons (it may take a while).

The ice beams that Ice Man shoots at you do quite a bit of damage, so equip the Thunder Beam (the E on the weapon select) and hit him a few times with it. Time your jumps (make sure you go straight up and don't move until you hit the ground) so you don't end up near death or dead. The Ice Slasher is yours.

Fire Man

There's a lot of spinning turrets in the first screen. Use the Thunder Beam to take care of the first two efficiently, then go up there with your regular weapon and take care of every other one that stands in your way. Use the Thunder Beam to take care of the last two.

The fire pillars do quite a bit of damage, but if you use the Ice Slasher to freeze them, they'll not only be harmless, you can stand on them! They'll turn back into harmful fire pillars after a few seconds, so be quick when it comes to getting where you want to go. The fireballs will keep shooting up out of the lava and slowly raining down on you, but they're easy to avoid on the way down. The next screen up has some health pick-ups...just be careful with those fire pillars.

The next screen down goes horizontally again, and this one has the Elec Man stage-style fire beams. These too are quite nasty. When you go two screens down, avoiding fire pillars and fireballs on the way, you'll have another horizontal segment where you'll be doing the same thing.

The next screen up has some sort of fire wave machine. Avoid walking through that entirely and use the Magnet Beam to climb up the wall. Problem solved.

Now you'll have to contend with bullets that move in a sine wave pattern and explode when you shoot them down. You're better off just letting these things move past you, even though they'll come at you constantly. Once you climb down those two ladder, avoid the fireballs and the next two flame pillars, and then you're at the chamber before the boss. Awesome. Take out the spinning turrets, and it's you and Fire Man.

Jump away from him when he fires his bullet at you, since his Fire Storm attack leaves a flame lying where you stand. Fire at him when you hit the ground, and keep on jumping over his fire beams! His attack does more damage than your Ice Slasher (I on the weapon select) does, but it's not impossible. Now you get the Fire Storm for yourself!

Bomb Man

Even though Cut Man is usually considered the first Robot Master to take care of, it's really Bomb Man. He's even easier to take out with the regular weapon than Guts Man, but you can also take him out with Fire Storm.

After some shrimp bots, you'll deal with bombs that fly into the air and explode at their highest point, sending four pieces of explosive debris down on you. Stand directly next to the wall before the pit they come from, then continue on. You'll find some spinning turrets and two small health pick-ups next before the ladder.

Four laser pods will hound you in the next screen. Lay really low on the ladder and wait for them to stop firing before you continue your ascent. There's a large health pick-up here if you really need it.

Go up from here, and you'll finally meet Sniper Joe. He's harder in this game than he is in later Mega Man games, as his bullets go much faster. You'll have to be patient, otherwise he'll keep his shield in front of him. Don't bother trying to jump over him, he'll try to follow you here. Sometimes he'll fire a bullet, sometimes he'll jump straight up into the air. Of course, if you have the Ice Slasher, you can freeze him in mid-air and just run right under him. More laser pods and exploding bullets await you afterwards.

Go up another screen and you'll have to deal with exploding bullets flying close behind you on the way to the next ladder. Then you'll have to deal with the eight-way firing spheres at the incoming spike pit. Get past that, then jump towards the wall on the way down to enter the alcove with a 1-Up. Again, the Ice Slasher is really useful against the Sniper Joe in this spot.

When you drop all the way back down, you'll have yet another Sniper Joe between you and the door to the boss chamber. You'll see a ladder going down. Jump onto the top of the ladder, then jump to the right again and hug the right wall. The crosses with eyes won't even be able to touch you. Now it's just you and Bomb Man.

The Fire Storm (F on the weapon select) not only shoots a fireball, it also sends out a temporary fire shield around Mega Man whenever you fire it. Use this shield of sorts when you're close to Bomb Man, as he mays make high, narrow jumps at the beginning. The bombs are very easy to avoid, as well as the explosions that come afterwards.

You finally have the Hyper Bomb! Next stop...Dr. Wily!

NintendoCapriSun plays Mega Man - Part 1 of 4

Yeah, it's short, I know. But he tears through the game like nobody's business.

Aside from the title screen and the shrill beep you hear when you press Start after turning the game on, this is basically the same game as its American counterpart. When Mega Man Anniversary Collection was released in America, they kept the American version's title screen but added the "Press Start" sound from the Japanese screen.

If you have annotations on, you'll be able to see some extra stuff regarding NCS's commentary at times.

[title][center]Select Stage[/center][/title]

As soon as you press Start...look at how much freedom you have. As said in the Video Game Icons entry from last time, we take this for granted now, but back then nobody had ever seen a screen where you could pick any level you wanted before.

Unlike the other Mega Man games, this one only lets you select between six robots instead of the normal eight that would become a staple in the series. Since we're going in the same order that NCS does for this blog, we're covering Guts Man first.

Guts Man

Gee, NCS, couldn't you have started with an easier stage? Well, not really.

The first enemy you meet are the Mettaurs. These robots in construction hats hide behind their indestructable armor and peek out to fire bullets at you when you get close. Move towards them and wait for them to peek their eyes out, then fire away.

Anyway, the platforms at the beginning are pretty hard unless you really know what to do. When you see a break in the path, that is where the platform folds down and drops you off. When jumping over these gaps, stay as far to the right edge of the platform as possible.

When you somehow manage to get past that, you'll meet some flying robots that try to divebomb you. Wait for them to come close enough to divebomb, then jump straight up and fire. This takes a little bit of practice, but once you get it down they're really easy. You'll also get to take down some miners that throw pickaxes which somehow seem to home in on you. Fire as fast as possible and walk towards them at the same time to minimize damage. If you were expecting disco balls and dragons that spit rainbows after those platforms, then your hopes are officially dashed. Sorry.

We all know that the yellow and white things replenish health and that the blue spheres replenish weapon energy, but the small dots that match the color of the stage and never flash are for bonus points. The more you've collected before you beat the boss, the more unnecessary points you'll get after beating the Robot Master for your unnecessary scoring system which never appears in any other game in the series. Strangely enough, it's harder to get enemies to spawn health replenishments in this game than in the sequels. No surprise there, since we're covering something from 1987.

While you're dropping down, jump through the middle pit and hold Left on the second screen. If you're lucky, you'll be able to get a really-hard-to-obtain 1-Up. Oh, yes, the ol' Mega Man head.

The one-eyed robot with the crusher at the bottom does a lot of damage if it touches you. Wait for it to make a narrow jump before you try to get past it. Once you go through the door, you'll take down a few more Mettaurs before you reach another door which takes you to...Guts Man.

Guts Man is the easiest to beat with the Mega Buster here. Jump just before he hits the ground to keep from being frozen for a few seconds and be sure that you also avoid the remains of the rocks that he throws. If you have Bomb Man's weapon, he goes down even faster...if you can get him to stay in the blast radius, that is.

When you beat him, touch the sphere that drops down when Guts Man disintegrates. You'll have to do this in every stage to finish the level, unlike in other games in the series. Congratulations, you have the Super Fist.

Cut Man

Now it's on to Cut Man and one of the first (if not the first) well-known songs in the series.

After some of those flying divebombers, you'll see some new enemies that resemble little laser pods. Wait for them to open up and begin firing at them. The four bullets they shoot at you go in intermediate directions (10:30, 9:30, 8:30 and 7:30, respectively), so be careful when you tussle with one.

When you climb up the ladder here, you'll fight four more of these things. You'll keep fighting more of these little laser pods as you go up. When you reach the top of the building, you'll see what looks like a huge library book drop. If you walk past it, though, conjoined scissor blades come out of it and home in on you as you move around it. If you don't stop as you go past it, you'll be just fine.

You'll find what look like tiny robotic shrimp jumping around afterwards. These things go down in one hit, but they can be annoying at times. Then you'll meet what looks like a 4x4 square cross with an eye in the middle. These things will either move vertically or horizontally when they open their eye. Shoot them down as their eye is closed to deal some damage to them. Taking these things out is well advised, since they can be a pain in the butt in some of these tight spaces, especially later in the game.

The next few ladders have you fighting these things again as you make your way towards another ginormous library book drop. Get past that, then make your way to the right, take care of the three flying divebombers and take the large health power-up if you need it. Go down and you'll have to deal with some rather nasty flying spheres that move horizontally and stop periodically to open fire in eight directions. Thankfully, their lines of fire are all very linear.

When you've made it two screens down, watch out for the spikes. Unlike other games in the series, the spikes will still kill you even if you're flashing from making contact with an enemy or enemy fire. Sheesh, sometimes this game is unforgiving.

After another crusher, go through the door and you'll have to deal with spinning turrets. These things will fire in five directions, and they'll extend outwards and start spinning when you get close before they fire. They're easy to take down before they can do anything, though. Some of them will be on the ceiling, especially in later stages, so be careful with these things. Once again, their lines of fire are very linear.

If you have Guts Man's power-up, pause the game to select it (it's the G, by the way), get near a large stone block (they look like brick walls) and press B to grab it when it turns white. Press B again to throw it. If any of the remnants of that block hit Cut Man, it'll do some major damage. If you don't destroy him with that, switch back to the arm cannon (it's the P on the weapon select) and take him down with it. Cut Man will be knocked back when you hit him with it. Watch out for his scissor blades that he throws, they come back to him like a boomerang when they reach a certain distance, and the way they take the shortest route to him on the way back makes it seemingly look like it's homing in on you, especially when he's jumping. Fortunately, he's not too hard to take down with the regular weapon as long as you're careful. Rolling Cutter will soon be yours.

Elec Man

This stage is probably the hardest of the regular six. Either that, or it's Fire Man, since both have given me trouble in the past.

You'll be climbing a long vertical shaft for a while. You'll see a new enemy on the first screen: a low-lying spike trap that moves along the ground and cannot be destroyed unless you have Cut Man's weapon (signified by C on weapon select). When you're on the same level as this thing, it will accelerate in speed in an attempt to either hit you or get you to screw up on your jumping. Sometimes, it's definitely the latter.

The second screen is foreshadowing of sorts. The blocks with the two light blue spheres on them don't do anything...yet. Wait until you get into the next screen up. You'll find out they shoot out electric barriers at regular intervals. You'll definitely have to time your movements accordingly to keep from taking unnecessary damage, because these things can be annoying.

On the next screen, go back to the regular weapon. There will be six spheres on the screen, three on the left coming down and three on the right coming up. Shoot down the ones coming up as they open up their laser guns, and you'll take them down. Go up before the three on the right take you out, because it's a long way down if you get hit here! You'll be doing this for two screens.

Now you'll have to deal with what is a constant enemy of even the most avid Mega Man fan: the disappearing platform blocks. You'll have to watch these things in order to time your jumps right. The ones on this screen are simple, but in later stages (and later games) they can be a real pain.

After two screens of this, you get a horizontal segment where you finally hold Right on the Control Pad! About time! Go up the ladder, and you'll have two more to choose from. Take down the green robots that come after you in this vertical shaft, then make your choice. If you go up the left one, you'll have to deal with more of those low-lying trap bots. If you go take the right one, you'll deal with some electric barriers. The one on the right is easier, IMHO. You may feel otherwise. The next screen has those green robots again. Take them down before you get any higher.

Regardless of which one you take, both ladders bring you to a screen with three blocks you'll have to use Guts Man's weapon to throw around to get rid off. That thing behind them is the Magnet Beam, and you'll need it to finish the game. Thankfully, NCS has Guts Man's weapon already, otherwise he'd have to fight Elec Man again. Yeah, that's right, the Robot Masters don't stay dead if you replay the level, unlike other games in the series.

Once again, you have a choice between two ladders at the next screen. The one on the left has low-lying trap bots, electric barriers, and electric barriers respectively on this and the following two screens. The one on the right has electric barriers, fewer electric barriers, and two shrimp bots and a Guts Man block. I prefer the left side, strangely.

After another horizontal segment, it's an easy screen followed by a screen with a crusher. Get past him and go through the door.

Video Game Icons: Mega Man

Origins

In the middle of 1987, Capcom came up with a simple idea. Simple on paper, anyway. It involved having a character running around the screen and shooting down robots in gameplay similar to Super Mario Bros. Sure, it had been done before in arcade games from early in the 1980s, such as Berzerk, Frenzy, Galaga, and Space Invaders, but thanks to the advance of technology and the title-based graphics format, it was now possible to do this in a side-scrolling platformer.

Rockman's origins were the brainchild of Keiji Inafune (even though he insists his mentor had the basic details down before he entered the company), who was credited in Capcom's early video game efforts as "Inafking." He had recently graduated from college and Joined Capcom's creative team for the original [i]Street Fighter[/i] as an artist. It wasn't long before Capcom took seriously the idea of some guy running around with a laser gun shooting down robots, and Capcom decided to put the idea - and Inafune - to the test.

Making The Game

The game consisted of months of grueling work. There were only six people on the development team, and the lead designer wanted Capcom's best forward, wanting perfection in every aspect. Inafune was waring multiple hats at once - he came up with almost all the character designs as well as the box art, the instruction manual, and the sprite rendering. The first character deisgn Inafune worked on was Elec Man. Just like Elec Man, the villians were based on American comic book characters.

The Nintendo Entertainment System, of course, still had quite a few restrictions as to what one could do. The most notoious was the fact that sprites could only consist of a few colors out of the NES's 56-color palette. Blue had the most shades, and Capcom made their hero blue to give him more detail. The design worked so well that when the series made the jump to 16- and 32- bit, the default color schematic stuck. Naoya Tomita (credited in the game as "Tom-Pon") worked on backgrounds immediately after his training stint at Capcom; by maximizing use of background elements, he was able to bring details to the game. Manami Matsumae (credited in the game as "Chanchacorin") did the score and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (credited as "Yuukichan's Papa") did sound management and programming. Matsumae composed the music and sound effects and programmed it all in three months. The music had to be converted one note at a time into machine language.

Capcom went through several names, including Mighty Kid, Knuckle Kid and Rainbow Man before they okayed Rockman.

A Game Like No Other

A lot of ideas came out of this game. The most notorious innovation of them all was the acquisition of bosses' (or Robot Masters', as they would be called) weapons, as well as the "rock-paper-scissors" nature under which they would work - one weapon would be a Robot Master's main weakness, other weapons were not as effective on said Robot Master, and not one would dominate the others. While we take this for granted nowadays, this was a radical idea as it was logical back then.

This game led to another first in the world of video games: the very first non-linear stage select screen. As soon as you pressed Start, you could choose any Robot Master you wanted. Not only did this lead to umpteen amounts of "Beat this Robot Master First" challenges that evolved into "Beat the Whole Game With the Mega Buster" challenges, it became the first stepping stone to non-linear, sandbox games such as Grand Theft Auto and Driver that would come around ten-plus years later.

Inauspicious Beginnings

Interestingly enough, sales of the game were moderately low when the game was first released. However, the game did better than Capcom expected, allowing for a sequel to be made. Mega Man 2 would
 consist of a lot of design elements that didn't make into the original game due to a lack of space. This game would be the one that would seal the deal and make Mega Man one of the best selling video game franchises ever.

Even though the game was meant solely for the Japanese market, Capcom decided to see how the game would do in America...

Coming To America

Rockman would not be released in North America until December 1987. Joseph Marici, then the Senior Vice President of Capcom in America, did not like the original name and came up with the Westernized title Mega Man. The name was well-liked enough to be used in future entries of the series in the West.

When the game made its way overseas, the box art was changed to reflect Western tastes of the time. The cover art was blamed on the game's lack of initial prosperity. Just like in Japan, the game's sales were modest, but the game received critical nods for graphics that were better than what there was at the time as well as the "rock-paper-scissors" weapon system and decent play control.

Legacy

Even though it did slightly better than Capcom expected it to, it was an inauspicious start ot a video game series of massive proportions. The game was such an interesting curiousity that, as time passed, Capcom re-released it in September 1991 due to overwhelming demand.

Mega Man brought a fresh breath of air at the outset, and as it progressed, the storylines, the graphcis, the sound and music, the play control - everything across the board would be improved. Mega Man would not only prove to become one of Capcom's biggest moneymakers, it would prove itself as a video game icon.

Back to the Future Part II Clip - The Future McFlys

Since Michael J. Fox is playing Future Marty as well as his future son and daughter, and digital editing didn't quite exist yet, shooting this one was a doozy. 

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 8 of 8

Let's get the almanac and get out of here!

Round 6-1

Password: WINK

Love the music in here. It's really adrenalizing and it kinda puts the whole "race against time" message in perspective.

As soon as you start this stage, large brown balls (either giant oranges, meatballs or balls of manure...I can't tell) start falling from the sky. You'll be spin jumping your way through the stage for a bit while avoiding bikers and other enemies.

Once you see the ceiling, you'll be jumping from platform to platform while trying not to get hit by cannonballs from below.

After the two springs, you'll be dealing with balloons again, followed by more platform with a few rotten apples among them that repeatedly perform their little vanishing act. Cute.

After a rather short easy section, you'll see those giant brown balls again. You'll have to use those to spin jump your way forward, then you'll have to spin jump into some bikers, go down a long hill, then jump over (or defeat) some homeless guy throwing things into a flame barrel to summon fireballs.

Hey, guess what? You'll have to do that thing one last time.

Go all the way down and make your way to the right. You'll have to do the "spin jump off stuff to make your way up" trick to get past this part.

If you can somehow manage to pull that off, it's just a short run to the goal.

Round 6-2

Password: BIFF

This is just way too easy.

Just spin jump on Biff's head a couple of times. That's it. He'll give up the almanac after a few hits.

It's just you, him, a car with a tractor trailor and a truck in front of him shooting objects everywhere.

The only thing to be really careful about here is Biff getting up from the car seat and jumping out at you...even though you'll probably attack him so fast you won't give Biff a chance to breathe.

Once you beat him, you'll see Biff crash right into a manure truck. Then the credits roll. What? No one last scene where you meet Jennifer and Doc before heading back to 1985?

Well, at least this was somewhat of an enjoyable game. It's not without its faults, but at least it's better than the stuff we got back in America from LJN...

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 7 of 8

We're finally at the home stretch of the game! Yay!

Round 5-3

Password: ROCK

This stage goes a mile a minute when you know how to get through it.

At the beginning of the stage is a 1-Up, which costs 100 coins. If you keep getting enough coins and dying, it's like infinite chances to beat Round 6-3. Yeah, I know, you have continues, but still...it's less annoying than watching that Game Over animation over and over again.

The only real thing I can say about this stage is to have patience with the spikes. Thankfully, this round is mercifully easier than the last two.

Once you finish this stage, 1955 George beats 1955 Biff up! Biff will drop the almanac, and you'll get it back.

Round 5-4

Password: ZERO

Instead of one or two guys, you've got three.

3-D glasses guy: This guy flies back and forth at the top of the room. Thankfully, you can easily get several spin jump on him in a row and he can easily be defeated.

Party guy: He's in the middle and he has two attacks - the stream of confetti and that 3-way attack with his party favors. He does the first attack more often when you're close to him, so use that to your advantage when you spin jump him to oblivion.

Wine bottle guy: He's at the bottom. Obviously, because of the platforms that follow you as you jump, he's the hardest. He shoots corks out of the wine bottle and also starts running faster for a second when you're nearby. The best way to take care of him is to get up close and jump and spin at the same time. That way, you'll crash into him without taking damage. (Hopefully.)

When you've made it past this boss battle, Biff gets ticked off and knocks you down, taking the almanac back with him.

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 6 of 8

Hey, I don't remember Marty ever having to traverse the sewers.

Round 5-1

Password: PINK

Welcome to 1955, and not some trashed-up alternate world.

There is a shield to your left at the start. If you have 60 coins, it'll be well worth taking the extra second to break it open.

There will be spikes moving up and down dead ahead. There are also kung fu fighters that jump up and try to hit you with their nunchaku on the way down when you get too close. Always defeat them with a spin jump.

Be careful in this section, as there are spikes moving around in a few points. Thankfully, they have a definite pattern. And don't go right hoping to find a shortcut, either, because you're just going to die.

Once you make it through that vertical section, you'll have to stand on a platform and dodge whatever spikes come your way while still keeping yourself on the platform by any means necessary. Thankfully, this part is far easier than the vertical section.

Go right after that long drop, and you'll have to take spring-loaded jumps over walls of spikes. If you're not sure how to time your jumps, don't move the D-Pad and just continue to jump on the spring.

You'll then reach a part where balloons fly around above a bunch of fans. This part is easy if you keep spinning while you're in the air.

After this, you'll see a bunch of springs and platform. Take the time to get some coins here if you can.

When you reach the pit, drop straight down and hug the wall. Don't want to run into any spikes, do you? When you reach the other end, you'll finally see a platform drop down. Take it and you'll take a ride right over the spikes...you won't even see them. Be sure to watch out for the red balloons that will try to mess this otherwise convenient ride up for you. After that, there's the goal! Congratulations, you just made it through one of the most frustrating levels in the game.

You'll then see a cutscene where George McFly slugs 1955 Biff in the stomach! He also has the almanac! Better go and find him!

Round 5-2

Password: EYES

We're in the sewers now? This is interesting. I don't remember this from the movie.

You'll see three spike walls that protrude in and out that you'll have to carefully move past before you finally start seeing enemies. After that, you'll have a few more to deal with. Just like the first set, take them slow.

You'll encounter a huge drop (in which you may have to watch out for spikes) before reaching the floor as well as a pit to go down if you want to continue. Take the time to use any springs you might find to get some coins.

The doors that are ahead spit out more of those karate guys. After this, you'll see those kids from Round 1-1 again. This time, you'll have to deal with them. Strangely, these kids drink soda out of a regular soda can, but when they toss it, the can inexplicably becomes as big as they are. Now that's weird.

Not long afterward, you'll enter an area that has no ceiling...and a lot of kid-sized soda cans falling from the sky. Once again, you'll have to spin jump off of these to move on.

After four karate kids and a couple of springs, it's more of those darned brown platforms, some of which vanish in and out...again.

Well, the good news is that once you get past this part, you're above ground again.

Just make your way to the top of the building and you'll be at the goal!

You'll find out that the book you were looking for is really a girly mag. Looks like the trail is cold...or is it?

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 5 of 8

We find Biff Tannen...and discover that there's a way to prevent this dystopia from existing!

Round 4-2

Password: QEEN

Go right to hit the switch, then go back to the left and jump on the platform then jump to the ledge you couldn't reach at first.

A short while later, you'll have to deal with a spike pit with individual spikes moving up and down above it that will block your progress between the platforms. In the first half of this part, the platforms vanish in and out.

Drop down instead of leaping off the top of the hill after this, and hit the switch to move the spikes. You'll then see more fans followed by what look like falling mushrooms. You'll have to spin jump from platform to platform to keep from being hit by these things, but hey...it makes getting through this part a little more exciting and a bit faster.

After a while, you'll have to do this again...this time, there will be some machine gun commandos on some of the platforms. You'll have springs instead of fans bouncing you up, but thankfully this part is a little easier.

Round 4-3

Password: KING

Jack, Queen, King. Get it?

Looks like you're in some sort of supply shed or enemy hideout or something. I can't tell.

There's a new commando here - one with a knife. He's pretty lame and his attack has no distance. You can defeat him rather easily.

There are multiple paths to take as soon as you take that first spring up. Some lead to dead ends, but some of these dead ends also have power-ups in them. Scout around if you need something.

There's an invincibility power-up not far from the start. Hit the vending machine and go nuts for a minute! Pick up speed and get through as much of the level as you can with it! Nothing can stop you! (Okay, I'm probably going overboard now...)

The wooden doors spit out commandos when they open, so don't hang out around them for long.

A short while later, there'll be a big room with two spikes moving around and a bunch of fans on the floor! Once again, be careful as you move all the way to the right to continue on.

You'll then meet Biff Tannen, who has a gun pointed straight after you. He is now a rich man, and he reveals that an old man gave him an almanac in 1955. He also reveals that he killed your father in this alternate timeline (even though his killer was never found) and that he's about to kill you!

Round 4-4

Password: BEAR

You'll fight Biff Tannen this time.

The switches in this room cause electricity to flow from the wires in the foreground. Don't touch the voltage. The two top switches are almost useless unless you get lucky, but if you can reach the two at the bottom, you can shock him if he gets too close to the sides.

If the voltage touches Biff Tannen, it'll cause a load of damage and make this battle a lot easier.

This is pretty straightforward. Just spin jump on the top of his head. He'll go down after a few hits. He'll shoot his gun every once in a while, so be careful if you're going for the bottom switches.

Don't stand next to him unless you want to get his with a billy club and knocked back into the upper level.

After this, Doc Brown comes in with the DeLorean and that you'll have to return to 1955 to retrieve the almanac, also taking care not to mess anything up from the first trip back.

Triple Hill

Because WWE really needed to look like one of those old-timey silent movies where everyone walks really fast and does severely exaggerated movements instead of the method acting we're all used to because audio wasn't in film yet.

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 4 of 8

I cover more ground in this entry than probably all the others, so you're going to get quite a lot out of this one.

Round 3-3

Password: WOLF

This boss is pretty simple. Just spin jump on the blocks to break them, and move to one of the sides when you bounce off them. The iron balls that fall from out of the pipes should hit him.

The blocks will come back one at a time from hooks that hang from the ceiling, so keep on breakin'!

Every once in a while, he'll turn around and fire three musical notes. You can get rid of any of them with a simple spin jump.

If for some reason you end up at the bottom, head back up by climbing into the opening to one of the pipes on the sides. Don't forget, you can also spin jump off the guy's head and score a free hit whenever possible. You're better off doing this whenever you can, since it deals more damage than the balls alone.

Round 3-4

Password: BLUE

Oh, jeez, I hate this level. Dying here = massive frustration, because of all the puzzling traps involved.

You'll be reaching higher heights with the fans on the floor. The first one is easy. The second one is not.

You'll have to time your movements, including when you float upwards with help from the fans, to avoid the spikes which move back and forth. You'll have to get some speed and time it right.

The third one is even slightly more of a pain, since there are three iron balls moving around at the top. Once again, get some speed and plan accordingly. These things do have a pattern, you know. And if you can stay away from the second one and under the third one, that's great...since you're kinda expected to do that.

You'll go up three platforms. After that, go left and you'll find an extra hit point and a shield. Hope you have 120 coins. Go right, and you'll not only find 30 coins if you go after the guard, but you'll also have to anticipate the movements of two walls of spikes when you drop down. Thankfully, they move vertically, and you can find even more coins in this area.

After the next two springs, go left, jumping the pits as you go (unless you want some more secrets...or an giant iron ball to the face...by jumping onto the moving ledges) and wait. These spikes have a new trick: appearing and disappearing randomly. If you have three hits, hitting one, catching a lot of speed and going through it as fast as you can is feasible.

The iron balls after this are easy. After that, you have the goal.

Round 3-5

Password: LION

Why is this the only "related" password for the Round 3 bosses? Hmmmm...

Anyway, these two bosses are easy. The little guy with the tambourines is pretty easy, and he shoots an angled shot forwards and upwards. Thankfully, he falls easily after you spin jump on his head a couple of times.

The big gut with the hammer is a little harder. Spin jump on him as well, but avoid that hammer!

Also, don't let these two guys touch each other! The little guy will get on top of the big guy and throw four shots at various angles!

After you defeat them, you meet the future version of Jennifer (who is your wife in this time period). Then you go back to Hill Valley...only to find that the world has changed...big time!

Round 4-1

Password: JACK

A lot of enemies are from Round 3-1. The first new one you'll see is pretty easy...some bald guy who looks like his head is on fire. Also worth noting is that the birds have been replaced with bats. Holy crap...welcome to alternate 1985!

The second one is a commando with a machine gun. The blast has some distance and is onscreen for a second before traveling forward, so spin jump on him earlier than usual when you see him. One of the platforms after your first encounter with that new enemy appears and disappears at random. Just letting you know.

A little later, you'll have a choice. Either you can jump over the fence and avoid the harder low road, or you can go down there anyway and get a bunch of coins and face a bunch of bikers. Be sure to spin jump when you go downwards if you take the low road.

If you take the high road, you'll deal with four platforms that vanish in and out for the first spike pit and a moving platform for the second. There's two extra hit points before the spikes and an extra hit point after the second spike pit if you need it.

Near the end, you'll meet a bald guy with a shotgun. Turns out, this is alternate 1985 Mr. Strickland, who ends up being an angry old man with the shotgun who happens to be the street punks' worst nightmare in the apocalyptic Hell Valley...and almost blows Marty's head off. Once you reach the goal, you'll find out that in this altered timeline, Marty's father George was murdered on March 15, 1973. You'll then meet Doc Brown again. He'll tell you what the almanac has done to the present day, and that getting the almanac back and destroying it will make everything right again.

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 3 of 8

Once you get past Round 3-1, you're going to see some serious fried chicken.

Round 3-1

Password: IRON

When this game hits Round 3-1, you're gonna see some serious fried chicken.

Looks like you're in the wrong side of town...bikers and gangsters are everywhere...how are you going to survive?

The bikers are really weird. As soon as you're in the vicinity, they roll around in what looks like a drunken stupor. Your best bet is to spin jump on or over them, to keep from taking an unnecessary hit.

Not long after the start, you'll see these bikers somersaulting down to the ground. You'll have to spin jump and work your way up with the floating platforms. Spin jump whenever bad guys are near you, so you don't take any unnecessary damage.

You'll take a platform across some spikes, then shortly afterwards you'll see a blue car with some guy in it. Destroying him lets out another guy, which lets out yet another guy when you defeat him. Don't touch the car at all; even if there's nobody in it, you'll still take a hit from touching it. (Geez, why can't the car just disappear?)

After you drop down the next chasm, you'll deal with guys on motorcycles, which will come fast and go back and forth in a specific area. If you can defeat them all, great. If not, just spin jump over them all and get away as quickly as possible

You'll then have the choice between the high road and the low road. The low road is full of ceilings lined with spikes, and a platform that lowers you and make it nearly impossible to get around if you're not fast enough to get past them. When you find a break in the spikes, spin jump. A biker is about to come your way.

If you go all the way down after this part, you'll find 30 coins, which can prove useful if you're not doing so hot. Take the platform, then after this last group of bikers is the goal.

The cutscene you see afterwards shows Marty in from of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise (I still have to laugh at "PALADISE"). You also see the Biff Tannen Museum (or Biff Tunn Museum). What happened that caused Biff Tannen to be so awesome?

Round 3-2

Password: BUST

This is the weirdest hotel I've ever seen.

Anyway, avoid the big black balls. Those things and indestructible. Hit the switches on the bookcase to get rid of the walls of spikes. Also, the soldiers' guns here can shoot farther and faster, and some of them can send shock waves through the ground with their tasers, so be careful. To get through the field of bombs, spin jump through the bombs to blow them up without doing any harm to yourself.

You have to land dead center on the white platforms...or else you'll fall through the sides. And if you're not careful, you could fall all the way back to the beginning of the level!

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 2 of 8

Well, now that we're taking over for our future son, let's take care of Griff Tannen once and for all!

Round 2-1

Password: HEAD

Love the music in this one.

Anyway, it looks like you're in the 2015 version of the Downtown area, according to the background. I guess.

This is where you'll see the spikes for the first time. Sometimes they'll move around, sometimes they'll be in a line keeping you from entering an area, sometimes they guard something until you hit a switch or perform a certain action such as defeat an enemy (you'll see a bit of that last one here). Regardless, they're really small, they're cheap half the time and they're really obnoxious. So be on your guard.

If you're fast enough after triggering the switch that moves the wall of spikes upward, you can spin jump high enough to defeat the first goon in an instant.

The wall behind him can be climbed on. Just keep jumping towards it and you'll climb up to the top of the wall. You may have to jump off the floating robot to reach the top here, as it's harder to jump to the very top of the wall at times until you get used to it. Be careful not to take damage when you reach the end of the climbable wall.

The flying cars act as platforms. You may experience some slowdown here (hey, the game isn't perfect, but it's still pretty good), but that's about all you'll have to deal with. You'll have to jump over the spikes after they are to the left of the path forward after the cars.

Jump down the pit, and you'll fight the blond girl with the ponytails. Keep spinning while you jump, and you'll keep bouncing on her and spinning until you land on her when she's on the ground. (She stands there for about two seconds before continuing her attack.) Once you defeat her, you'll be able to jump on some platforms and continue on.

The guys on the hoverboards will only come down if you run over the switch that lets them down. Taking it slow here helps.

The third goon does nothing but shoot sonic waves out of his guitar. After that long drop, speed up and take a huge spin jump. You'll come down right on the guy's head and knock him out.

After that, you'll be able to jump onto a platform, jump over the dead end and head to the exit!

Round 2-2

Password: FROG

It's Griff again. This time, you'll have to press the two switches at the center of the screen, timing it so that when the big geyser of water comes out, Griff is in the center of the screen. This will send him flying into the roof of the mansion in the background. After doing this about five or six times, he's done.

He'll stop in one of the corners and throw those baseball bats at you again. If you stay under him, you won't have to worry about that.

If you can somehow sneak up behind him and do a spin jump on him when he lowers himself to flatten you with his hoverboard (which he does every so often), you'll land a free hit. You can also hit him while he's flying around, assuming you're fast enough and you can jump up to him in time. Using this tactic in combination with the fountain can help you beat Griff in record time.

You'll then get a cutscene. Old Man Biff Tannen will climb into the DeLorean and travel into time...but why?

PrinceWatercress plays Super Back to the Future II - Part 1 of 8

I'm playing the game this time!

Anyway, "Lesson" starts you at 0-1, while "Start" takes you to 1-1.

I kinda mentioned in the link that this Japan-only game controls like Sonic to some degree...but it's kinda evil. You'll need to collect coins to get power-ups from the vending machines, and the learning curve is a bit high. But it's still better than the LJN games, I'll tell you that.

Anyway, in the tutorial level, you start out automatically with the hoverboard in 1985...as well as Marty Jr.'s clothes. (Why? I don't know. The Japanese are weird like that, I guess.) Like in Sonic, it takes a while to get going, but once you do...oh, how fast you go!

Make it a habit to keep on spinning while you're in mid-air. It'll be a habit that will save your life and keep you from experiencing unnecessary deaths. At least you have unlimited continues...but still, I'm gonna put it out there. Doing that helps. A lot.

Round 0-1

Password: BACK

This level is pretty straightforward. Grab as many coins as you can as you make your way through the level. Don't forget: when you finish a level, you get 100 coins just for making it to the exit!

To break boxes, just run through them. Sometimes you'll find coins in them, sometimes you won't.

To activate switches, just run through them as well.

To activate a power-up, just run through the vending machine. If you have enough coins, you'll exchange those for the power-up.

At the end of this level, you'll get a cutscene where you meet your girlfriend Jennifer, and Doc Brown takes you to the year 2015. You'll also see a short cinematic that takes place with a Mode 7 DeLorean, as well.

Round 1-1

Password: OPEN

To defeat enemies, jump on top them while spinning, just like in Sonic. Granted, you'll have to press a button repeatedly to do it (I think you do), but other than that it's just like in the Sonic games. Once again, if you're not, you'll take damage. And with three hits, there are opportunities where if you're not careful, you'll die...and die...and die.

Whenever you defeat an enemy, you'll get one coin. The more you defeat, the more help you'll have at getting power-ups out of the vending machines.

If you replenish health while at full health with this, the game will reward you with an extra life. This can come in really handy later in the game.

The police officers' bullets can be destroyed with a spin jump. They don't give you coins, though.

Get used to seeing areas where you're climbing through vertical areas with platforms you can jump through at the end to reach the next "floor" (as well as the enemies in them) in the levels that take place outside. This won't be the last time you'll see a building like this. It's easy here, but later on...

To jump on the springs, you don't necessarily have to jump on them. Instead, you can run over them and they'll take you pretty high.

You'll see some kids throwing those soda cans later in the game. Right now, don't worry about defeating them. Just run right past them and you'll do just fine.

Round 1-2

Password: BOSS

Here's your first meeting with Griff Tannen. The buttons at the lower corners will hit him with the flat-screen TVs (ah, the rounded screens!), but they only work once. You'll have to spin jump on top of him when he's not spinning those baseball bats around.

He'll hit the ground with the bats and cause things to fall down, but that attack is easy to avoid.

After you defeat him (which doesn't take very long), you'll see a cutscene where he sends three of his goons after you. You'll have to fight them in the next stage.

This is the funniest thing I've put in the blog, I swear.

Holy hat, it has more cock jokes than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, the real Punisher wouldn't don that shit.

Akillerplayer beats The Punisher (Arcade) on one credit - Part 4 of 4

"Goodnight, fat boy!"

Final Stage: Final Punishment (continued)

You'll beat up some more enemies, both armed and unarmed, before you reach a dead end. Along the way, you'll find some nice power-ups in the crates (including two M-16s!) before you fight four ninja girls and a Gus at the end.

The next room is it - the final boss battle with the Kingpin. I'm surprised the carpet doesn't catch on fire when he throws his cigar down.

The Kingpin is huge. He actually takes up about half the screen! The Bogarts here are his flunkies at the beginning, but his next two have guns. Throw enemies at him, break the furniture to get weapons you can use against him, and when the game allows you to, try to shoot Kingpin with your gun. Unless you're saving your bombs for a high score (the bombs give you a 20K bonus for each one you have left at the end of the stage when you win), use your bombs when you're low on health. His slap has some range, and he'll also attack you with his cane. His leap attack (in which he tries to sit on you - what the crap, seriously, Capcom?) is also pretty dangerous, too. He can grab and throw you if you're too close, and he'll also smoke a cigar and breathe the smoke on you! What a jerk!

One of the more interesting ways to beat him is to trap him in a corner and use your super on him. You'd better be ready to avoid his grab attack, though.

When it's all over, the King Hotel collapses. Enjoy your ending, grammar and spelling mistakes included.

Akillerplayer beats The Punisher (Arcade) on one credit - Part 3 of 4

The Kingpin's luck has just run out...

Stage 5: Kingpin's Wrath

(continued)

If you picked up the flamethrower before entering the fourth section, you'll definitely be able to power through a lot of thugs at the beginning. Thugs will come in through the trees...but they're weak anyway. The Yun Lee here has some nunchaku, so watch out when he swings it around.

When you see oil drums rolling toward you, try to break all of them - the rewards are worth it, as you can replenish your health, get more weapons, and get a lot of points.

You'll meet Mizuri, Midori and Luna at the end again. Unlike the other foods, the Meat you'll find nearby refills your entire health bar regardless of how much you have left.

When you beat them, you'll come across an old log cabin...and Guardroid2! Even though it has armed goons accompanying it, the same tactics from last time still apply.

Last Stage: Final Punishment

Kingpin is hiding in the King Hotel, and with a well-placed rocket launcher shot, you'll bust your way in and give Kingpin and whatever's left of his goons what's coming to them!

You'll fight a bunch of enemies with guns before kicking your way through several walls. When you destroy the last wall, you'll set off an alarm, and enemies will flood the room.

There are suit of armor around that you can get some devastating Lances from, and the columns in the foreground are actually breakable if you're close to the bottom of the hallway.

At the end of this section, you'll fight Scully again. Same rules apply here. Also of note - the Saxon here carries nunchaku. Thankfully, you have immediate access to weapons this time around, so this battle is definitely easier.

When you beat him, you'll bust down the elevator doors and drop to the roof of the elevator inside. As you fight off the thugs, bundles of dynamite will drop down. You can use them as weapons if you want, and throwing them away from your general area makes sense, but don't get so greedy for points that you unintentionally blow yourself up.

You can also break the glass walls for points. Also, there's another new enemy here - a green version of Gaillee named Jigsaw, who also carries an M-16. Like Gaillee, Jigsaw only appears in one-player mode. When you beat him, you'll knock out a steel panel in the ceiling and enter a control room.

The game's attract mode sequence...and more!

Trust me, if this doesn't catch your eye, you probably won't be playing the game.

 That's not how CPR works...

Akillerplayer beats The Punisher (Arcade) on one credit - Part 2 of 4

Your journey takes you into the criminal underground - literally - leading you to a huge opium poppy field and a mobile factory in an underground cave in Arizona.

Looks like a lot of stuff is going to get destroyed.

Stage 4: Death on Rails

The first section is really simple. Grab everything in the crates and shoot up all the bad guys.

The second section has you getting on the underground train. As soon as you jump on, the train will leave its station, giving you a full invitation to tear everything up.

You'll find a bag of cement almost as soon as you get on the train. It may be a slow weapon, but if you're on a roll here or you just don't give a crap, it makes an interesting weapon. You'll also meet another ninja chick - Luna.

As soon as you finish off all the enemies here, you'll leap onto the roof of the train. Punching the rods on the roof will cause them to explode in a matter of seconds. You'll meet another new enemy on the roof - Bakosu, a variant of Leon with a longer health bar. You'll also find another new weapon - the Bizen Orafune, a katana that slices up your opponents.

I just love how Akillerplayer takes that Yan Lee and throws him off the train.

Anyway, when you're finished on the roof, you'll drop down to the lower level of another train car to take on another Gus as well as a bunch of Bakosus. The knives they carry will work quite well against Gus, and if you got the flamethrower before you entered this segment of the train, that will work well against him too.

When you're done with all of them, you'll expose the inside of the train car and come face to face with Bushwacker. Of course, the only question on my mind is - why is there a country fireplace inside the car, as well as a lounge seat, a bearskin rug and a suit of armor near the controls? I can understand if that's where you put the coal that powers the train, but I see a coal bin, either. Maybe I'm nuts?

Anyway, Bushwacker is very powerful. His arm can transform into a rocket launcher, he can both punch and grab you, and he has an amazingly high leap. Throwing enemies at him, as always, works best.

You may meet another enemy here if you defeat enough regular enemies here. Misa is just like the other ninja girls, but she has her brown hair in a tight bun as well as - you guessed it - a longer life bar. Talk about efficiency.

If you destroy the suit of armor, you can take the lance from it. This is a very good weapon, as it does a nice amount of damage when you throw it into an enemy, especially Bushwacker!

When you beat him, you'll leave an exploding train as a going-away present for the Kingpin.

Stage 5: Kingpin's Wrath

Kingpin has had enough of your meddling in his affairs, and has somehow managed to find your hideout.

Jagger is pretty full of himself now that he's located you. Thankfully, your gun is enough to shut him and his cronies up. So much for the first section.

The second section takes place in the sewers. More low-level baddies here. You'll meet Hawke, who is basically Saxon in blue pants. Doors 1 and 3 have bad guys while Door 2 has nothing. Wow-Cat is a red version of Red-Lamp, and he's just as nuts. Grab the flamethrower before you go to the next section.

The third section has you fighting Gus and Red - the latter being a red version of Gus. After you take them out, you'll face four Pretty Boys. One of the barrels where the first fight here takes place gives you another Lance, which is pretty nice. You'll find a flamethrower at the second one.

The fourth section will take you into the wilderness...

Akillerplayer beats The Punisher (Arcade) on one credit - Part 1 of 4

Let's play another beat 'em up involving Marvel superheroes, a wide variety of weapon pick-ups...and guns!

Stage 1: Back to the War

The stage titles are different if you play as Nick Fury, but I'm using the Punisher stage names because that's who the player is using.

In the first section, there are a bunch of money bags and some destroyable objects lying around. When you have to stop to fight enemies, you can also move backwards up to a certain point. You're not stuck in the one screen unlike other beat 'em ups - you really have some room to move, which is a nice breath of fresh air.

When you beat up all the enemies, Bruno will show up, spot you, and run away.

In the second section, you'll give chase only to come across some armed enemies. When enemies with guns show up, your character will automatically pull the gun out. Pressing the attack button, of course, fires the gun. The cross hairs make it easier to tell where you're aiming, even though most of it involves simply facing the enemy and opening fire. You can also shoot unarmed foes as long as you have the gun out. When you kill all the armed enemies in the vicinity, you'll put the gun away. When robotic enemies show up later on, you'll use the gun on them as well.

The pistols that the Jacks and Jaggers carry just give you points...though there are other projectile/gun weapons in the game you can use.

When you pick up a weapon, there will be a usage counter above your number of bombs remaining. When that number hits zero, the weapon breaks and can't be used again. Weapons you'll see here are tires, knives, and a baseball bat.

I forgot to mention the enemies, didn't I? Max, Dean and Chrys are just your standard flunkies, Jack tries to shoot you with his pistol, Leon carries knives, Shone wears a hat and usually carries a weapon, and Yan Lee is your stereotypical karate guy.

You can also pick up an enemy when he's down. From there, you can throw him into other enemies or jump and smash him into the ground, which is pretty interesting to pull off.

You also have some special attacks in this game. Pressing Attack and Jump simultaneously gives you a super attack that attacks all the enemies right near you in exchange for a bit of health. You'll also flash pink for a short time while using it, rendering you temporarily invincible. There's also a grab special as well as an air slam special. Nice.

Also, if you double tap the joystick in any direction, you can roll. This helps you avoid a lot of attacks and can be a lifesaver, and you can also perform a kick attack that sends enemies flying back while in a roll if you need to.

If you press Down, Up and attack, you'll do an attack that surrounds your enemy in blue flames. Some versions of the arcade game don't have it for some reason...I guess it's version specific? I dunno.

In the third section, you'll break through a school bus window and face Bruno's goon, Scully. If you have enough health, you can trap him near a wall, use the super attack repeatedly and finish him off easily. Otherwise, throw enemies into him and weave your way diagonally towards Scully - don't go straight towards him as his attacks have some range and his kick seems to home in. Don't get knocked down, either, as his ground kick does a lot of damage.

If you press both buttons in mid-air, you'll use one of your bombs. To replenish your bombs, find hand grenades throughout the stages. Also, why Scully is the same size as a regular enemy when he's on fire, I'll never know.

At the end of every stage, you'll get a bonus for beating the boss. You'll get 300 points for every second left on the clock, a random number of points of every unit of health left, 5000 points for every bomb you have left, a random number of points for every weapon pick-up you've used, food you've eaten, containers you've destroyed and valuables you've collected. The more items you pick up and the more weapons you use, the more points you get for the item bonus at the end of each round.

You'll interrogate Scully, and find out that Bruno is in Castle Pantaberde in Florida. After that, the Punisher will shoot him (if you're playing as Nick Fury, you'll just knock him out). All the while, the bus driver will give you the thumbs up. Bus driver, y u no be perturbed by the situation?

Stage 2: Raid on Pantaberde

You'll sneak into Castle Pantaberde through the drain pipe of the swimming pool. Then you'll come out through the pool and set off the alarms, sending a bunch of goons straight for your throat.

New items and weapons include rings, battle axes, and cheese.

You'll also meet Rusking (another version of Shone), Saxon (a white, blonde-haired American version of Yun Lee) and two ninja chicks, Mizuri and Midori. The ninja girls carry swords, and not only do they have a spin attack and a jump kick, they also run very fast and teleport in and out. They also drop rings when they're defeated, which is actually very nice. Pick them up as soon as you see them, as they're worth a lot of points.

When you're done with the enemies in the first section, you'll smash through the window. You'll be in for some more gunplay in here, as you'll fight off two Jacks as well as some new bad guys with guns: Cool (the guy who peeked his head out the door in Stage 1' his machine gone does some fast damage), B. Hannigan and Luis Allegre (guys in suits and hats that sometimes use pistols; other times they'll use their fists), and Kolsky (he wears a suit but not a hat; he appears with the gun sometimes, other times he uses his fists)

There are also three jail cell doors on the wall. Breaking the first one frees a girl named Barbara who will refill some of your health, the second one has nothing and the third one has another girl.

Dylan is yet another weak thug, and is easy to deal with. Red-Lamp is something else. This guy not only grabs any weapon he can get his hands and use it against you, he'll also grab rings as well. He'll go for the flamethrower, and (thankfully) whenever he fires a shot from a gun or hits you with a weapon, it won't count towards the number of times that weapon can be used if you can get it away from him. If he picks up a ring, you'll have to kill him to get him to drop it. You'll also find a hammer off one of the enemies, which makes for a nice, fast weapon.

When you bust through the door after finishing off all the enemies, you'll meet Bruno and his goons again. A laser will fire from behind them, killing all four of them. You'll then have to face a giant robot known as the Guardroid.

The Guardroid will rush at you if you're far enough away, and it'll also jump in an attempt to shake the ground and knock you off your feet, causing damage. Its attacks are staggered, but they hurt. When it spins its head, roll out of the way and to the side, as it'll shoot lasers both in front of it and behind it. The lasers have shadows, and if you touch those shadows or are general in their paths, you'll take damage. When it's down to quarter health, nail it with some bombs. It's over.

Your next mission: the Kingpin, aka Richard Fisk.

Stage 3: Waterfront Warfare

Our heroes will soon find out that the Kingpin's drug trade is blossoming on the ship docks. Time to put the local drug trade on ice!

If you can destroy the cars, enemies won't be able to pop out of them, and you'll get more points.

Trench is a red variation of Cool, while Jaggers is Jack in a blue shirt. They aren't just mere sprite re-colors, though; these guys have bigger life bars. Gus fights like Scully, but he's a tad weaker. He's far from a pushover, though, so be careful and fight him like you would Scully.

Another new weapon shows up at the beginning: a boomerang. Even though it can be used eight times, recovering it after you throw it is a little tricky.

Gaillee is another man with a machine gun and has just as much HP as Gus. He only shows up if you're playing a one-player game. He's slower than Cool and Trench, but he's as tall as Gus and he can pack a punch. When you beat him, you can pick up his M-16 and shoot enemies with it.

When you reach the corner, you'll meet the Pretty Boy robots. The red ones have half the HP of the gray ones, but their arms can extend. When they show up, your character will pull out his gun. As you chip away at them, their human-like masks will deteriorate, then their metallic heads will get knocked off, followed by their torsos. When they become a pair of walking Pretty Legs, finish them off with a few more shots to get rid of them.

The robot heads, also known as Pretty Heads, can be used as single-use weapons. Watch out when they flash, however - they'll explode, damaging anyone near it, including you. There's also a piece of Cheese here if you need the health.

In the second section, you'll break into a building and fight some more flunkies. There's a pizza here if you still need some health.

After fighting all the enemies, you'll drop down and fight Bone Breaker - part man, part mechanical tank. The crates he crashes into give you a rock, an extra Bomb and a baseball bat, which help if he gets near you.

Keep your distance, as there are gun-toting enemies and Pretty Bots here, and take him out with your gun. His flamethrower may not have much range, but his rockets reach a little further, so watch it if you're picking at Bone Breaker from the other side of the screen. If you need to knock him back, use a jump kick.

When you finish him off, his upper half will be knocked off of his chariot...which blows up. Sucks to be you!

Bonus Stage

This one is just really easy. Just keep shooting an keep the cursor near you. If any barrels stray, get those, then get the ones near you as quickly as possible. It takes practice, but once you pull it off, you'll be getting easy perfects on this in no time.

Tool-Assisted Speedrun - Streets of Rage 2 GEN in 22:58 by Sonikkustar

Enjoy.

Birthofanova plays Streets of Rage 2 - Stage 8

Mr. X is about to get his. Again. And once again, it's not gonna be that easy!

Stage 8

First Section

Ground Level

You'll have to fight some robots again as soon as you begin the stage. Just when you thought your robot fighting days were over...

You'll also have to face R. Bear's palette-swapped relation, Bear Jr. (Is it his son? I dunno.) Hope you got that pipe from that enemy and brought it here, otherwise you'll be doing more moving than usual.

Second Section

Elevator

You'll be doing some more fighting here. You'll be stopping at three floors and fighting a mini-boss before you finally reach the top and meet Mr. X. After so much time, you finally fight a wrestler again! How about that?

When you reach the top, you'll finally meet Mr. X sitting in a chair just like in the last time...and he's not alone. He'll send out his new right-hand man, Shiva, after you.

Shiva is just nasty. Throwing him backwards will result in him landing on his feet, and he can throw you out of your own grabs! If he grabs you from the front, you can hit him out of it with the A button. He also has standing kicks, aerial chops, punches, jump kicks, somersaults and slide kicks as well, making him more than a worthy opponent for a penultimate boss.

Mr. X fights the same as he does in the last game: running around, shooting at you, trying to hit you with the butt of his gun. Same strategies from the last game apply: throw enemies at him, walk diagonally into him to grab him, and...this time...use your extended moveset to your advantage!

When you beat him, Adam Hunter is rescued and the city is safe yet again! You did it!

Birthofanova plays Streets of Rage 2 - Stage 7

You thought the last few stages were hard? You haven't seen anything yet! We're headed back to the factory, and this time around the franticness of the music is at an all-time high!

Stage 7

First Section

Factory

You'll be beating up every enemy and mini-boss you've seen for the umpteenth time, and on the harder difficulties they really come out in numbers! Get all the power-ups, use the conveyor belts to your advantage, and wait for the bikers in the background to stop throwing their bombs!

Second Section

Elevator

There's a turkey hidden behind one of the domes, but wait until you really need it before you go get it. There are a lot of enemies here, and just like the elevator level in the last game, the enemies' life bars get bigger as you fight on. You'll be dealing quite a few enemies, and you'll be dealing with all the mini-bosses you didn't see in the first section again.

When the elevator makes it all the way up, you'll fight two robots, Particle and Molecule. If you grab them, make your attacks quick, as they [b]will[/b] shock you. Stay on the move so you don't get beaned with their eye laser when they line up with you, and watch out for the spiked ball that spins around when they stand still. When you defeat a robot, it explodes, so stay away from one when you destroy it.

Birthofanova plays Streets of Rage 2 - Stage 6

Despite how awesome the music sounds, the first section here is anything but fun and games. You're gonna meet a lot of kickboxers...

Stage 6

 

First Section

Beach

You'll meet a few ninjas at the beginning, but it's all fun and games until you reach the jungle. Then you'll meet three Muay Thai kickboxers! If you're able to grab one and throw him into the other two, it'll make a world of difference.

Second Section

Jungle Path

You'll fight a bunch of martial arts guys and Signals here. Using your Down+B aerial attack here and grabbing one of the Signals to throw them around works well in the diagonal corridor at the beginning.

Once you reach the straight end of the road, the bikers make their vengeful return here, so watch out for both the bikes and the bombs. You'll have to knock two bikers off of their rides, since they'll continuously run you over. All the while, you'll have to fight off both a fat guy and two dominatrixes.

When you reach the stronghold, you'll meet Souther (another Zamza clone) and Stealth (a jetpack guy). If you beat up Souther first, Stealth will instantly be defeated. If you need the extra points, though, Stealth isn't that hard to take out.