In this blog entry, we face the last two Robot Masters before heading to Dr. Wily's fortress.
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. When in water, you jumps will be normal; the huge jumps in water associated with the series didn't happen until the second game. 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 Elec 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. If you stay at the far left end of the room, you can take out Ice Man without having to dodge projectiles. The Ice Slasher is yours, and it can freeze any enemies that it hits.
Fire Man
There's a lot of spinning turrets in the first screen. Use the Elec 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 Elec 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!
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