THE OWENS PUTS A REFEREE THROUGH A TABLE

LOOK IT'S HARD TO FIND THINGS RELATED TO ARDY LIGHTFOOT OKAY

PrinceWatercress plays Ardy Lightfoot - Part 3 of 6

We make some progress obtaining the Rainbow Crystals, but things soon get from bad to worse.

Scene 7: Ancient Pyramid

At the beginning, head to the right of the start for a few stars, then go the other direction and ride the square to the right, and duck to avoid being hit by the spikes. You'll need to pay attention to avoid being hit by spikes as you make your way down into the pyramid. There will be a green guy walking around and carrying a torch. DO NOT destroy this guy unless you absolutely have to, as doing so makes it harder to see in the level.

Be careful near the moving spiked walls. Don't go too fast, and be ready to jump over them to continue on. When you grab the rope, you'll find out that it is lit like a cannon fuse at the bottom and the fire will be rising towards the top. Leap off the rope and drop down, staying on the right hand side. You'll land on a platform that looks like a moving snake. Move to the right, avoid the bombs that move towards you and destroy the green guy who is planting them at the end. There is a chest with either treasure or Pec above him if you need it.

Continue your way across the snake platform, avoiding more bombs and taking care of the green guy at the end. Take the flashing red bomb at the pile of bombs here, and use them to blow up the two walls that block your path. To blow up the second, you'll want to press Y or A while running to throw the bomb forward after going past where the first door was to keep from taking damage from the bomb.  From there, drop down when you see the stars. You'll find a treasure chest here. To get out, climb on the rope above the mechanical snake so that the snake wakes up, and jump off of it before it grabs hold of the rope. Leap on its tail and you'll be able to go super high and land on the platform to the right.

From here, make your way right, and grab the block. Jump over the floor where the first ray of sunlight is so stalactites don't fall on you, then place it at the bottom of where the second ray of sunlight comes down. This will open the door to the right and allow you to enter the next stage.

Scene 8: Mouse Trap

At the start, attack the green guys on your way to the left. The mouse that climbs the ceiling is just there to distract you, and doesn't really do anything.

Once you drop down, you'll be in a slightly more expansive area. The first continue point is available if your drop far enough down.

You'll soon come across a gray block. Tail bounce off of it to the left, where there is another gray block. You'll have to pull it towards you off the edge of the floor, and then drop it down to the left. To do that, walk up to the block, hold Y and then hold Left to pull it left. From there, push the first gray block to the left and you'll be able to continue.

As you head further to the right, you'll see a set of spikes above you. As you run to the right, you'll hear a rumble. Push the gray block so you can jump over it, so the spikes will fail to hit you and bounce off the block instead. From there, run to the platforms above the spike pits and make your way up. You'll soon find the second continue point.

There is an alternate path where you will meet some smaller treasure chests. You must tail bounce off of them to defeat them; Pec cannot hurt them at all. To blow up the floor that you have to get past to drop down to the end, you'll have to grab the bomb from the chest, then hold Right on the Control Pad towards the floor when you drop down. While still holding Right, press Y or A to throw the bomb while you still have momentum.

When you enter the room with the skeleton in it, you'll fight a genie that comes out of a magic lamp. When he descends towards you, tail bounce onto him, then tail bounce off the lamp. The genie will disappear, and you'll get a key that allows you to unlock the door to the right.

You'll find the green Rainbow Crystal again, but the mouse from the beginning of the stage will run around with it while comedic music plays. Thankfully, the mouse isn't super fast, and once you catch up with it, the Rainbow Crystal is yours again. If you fall into the gaps next to the steps near the spikes in the center, you can trick the mouse into taking the low road when you're chasing it instead of the high road.

A word for the wise: do not trigger the continue point before the skeleton. As long as you don't do this, you'll be able to get extra lives as you keep going through the pyramid again and again in case you keep dying during the battle with the genie.

When you continue to the right, the ceiling will slowly close in on you! Before it can crush you however, the guy who looks like Indiana Jones - whose name is Don Jacoby, by the way - holds the ceiling back so you can escape. Unfortunately, the ceiling falls on him when you reach the other side.

After leaving the pyramid, Ardy thinks about Don Jacoby, then gets on a nearby raft.

Meanwhile, another henchman - this one a wolf named Beecroft - in that fortress far, far away takes orders from that guy behind the curtain, whose name is Count Visconti and seems to have his own plans for the treasure we are collecting. Visconty tells him about our victories against Grounder, Catry and the mouse in the pyramid, then gives him instructions.

Ardy soon encounters a pirate ship...

Scene 9: Gilson's Pirate Ship

You can use the tail bounce to get the stars while on the raft, but watch out for the shark moving back and forth in the water.

You'll eventually encounter a series of rowboats, and you'll have to use those as platforms to get to the pirate ship. Be ready to run and jump, and avoid the yellow sea chicks that the guy in the window is tossing out. The yellow sea chicks in the boats will slowly move back and forth, and also jump every once in a while. Remember that even if you're in the air, you're always gaining momentum after moving left or right long enough.

You'll eventually have to jump up on some platforms on the side of the ship itself to get anywhere. Keep a look out for the first continue point as you do. Avoid the barrels that the guys in the windows toss out at this point, and pay attention to the bottom so that you don't have to make a bunch of blind leaps.

You'll eventually find two rowboats that will lead to a giant anchor connected to the ship. Get on the anchor, and you'll trigger a boss battle against the pirate captain Gilson.

Gilso will fly between both sides of the anchor. Tail bounce off his head, then land on the top of the anchor in the center of the screen. From here, you can easily tail bounce on his head again when he shows back up. He will keep flying in from the upper-left corner of the screen towards the right side of the anchor, making him predictably easy to avoid and also attack him multiple times. The anchor will be raised as you fight, but you'll eventually take Gilson down.

You can also stay on the side of the anchor where you tail bounced on Gilson's head, then catch up with him on his way down like I did. He will throw some feather projectiles, but if you know what you're doing, they'll never come close to touching you.

After beating Gilson, you'll be able to get on deck, and Gilson hands you the orange Rainbow Crystal.

The sun eventually starts to set, and back home, Beecroft shows up at the elder's home. He attacks the elder, then breaks into the bedroom located below the house and kidnaps Nina.

PrinceWatercress plays Ardy Lightfoot - Part 2 of 6

In the next three stages, we go through a forest before ending up in the belly of a beast.

Scene 4: Lumberjack Forest

Your jumping skills, especially with the tail bounce, will be put to the test here near the beginning when you have to avoid the spikes.

Watch the trees, as some of the red fruits have eyes. If you get close enough to these fruits, they'll drop down and dive right at you, fangs at the ready. Thankfully, you can throw Pec at them and have him eat them.

The second treasure chest contains an upgrade in the form of what looks like an oxygen tank. If you pick it up, Pec turns red, and you can pump him up like a balloon and fly around on him. Be careful: when he starts deflating, your flight time is about to run out. Pick up more oxygen tanks to get more flight time.

After flying across the spike pit, you'll come across a continue point and a set of trampolines that will get you to the top. From here, you'll come across the green guys again. DO NOT attack them with Pec. Instead, leap off of them to the right, one by one, to clear the spike pit. Run down the slope and jump at the very edge to clear the spike pit, and you're outta here!

You'll then chase somebody to a tree house.

Scene 5: Catry's Tree Fortress

If you clear a scene without Pec, you'll get him back at the beginning of the next one. This is helpful, especially in the later scenes.

It's Don Jacoby again! And one of those green guys is riding a flying vehicle that will let him ride to the top! When you meet up with the guy, you'll find you 'll have to make your way to the top the hard way.

Grab the vine to the left at the very beginning and climb your way up. You'll come across a couple of branch platforms, a ton of stars and a green guy. Use Pec to take down the green guy, and watch out for the branch platforms that spin, as they will slowly move you off. If you need to, use your tail bounces to get where you need to go. Just watch out when you do it on the spinning platforms, though. You'll still be moved to the side when you land during the tail bounce.

The dark brown vines can be walked on.

You'll eventually reach the flying platform that the guy dressed like Indiana Jones is standing on when it seems that you can't go any higher. From here, you can grab on to the hook at the bottom of the flying platform, Stay on the left side of this hook so you don't get hit by the projectiles firing out of the cannons. You'll reach another continue point, and if you use your tail bounce to the left of it, you'll find another extra life in a chest. If you get hit on the way up, hold Up so you don't fall all the way back down.

Press the yellow button to enter the next room. Here, you'll fight Catry, the thief that the old woman in the village told you about. There are four buttons: red, blue, yellow and green. Each colored button corresponds to a similarly-colored boxing glove that pops out of the wall. To beat Catry, all you need to do is jump on the button for the corresponding boxing glove she is near to hit, and make sure she doesn't do the same to you.

As you damage her, she eventually turns purple. After a few more hits, she gives up at first, then glides out of the tree fortress when you move towards her as she is knelt down. Ardy automatically gives chase, and Catry gets eaten by a sand worm. Naturally, Ardy decides to join her in there. 

Stage 6: Eaten!!

You'll eventually drop down into the belly of this beast. Do not let the droplets of acid touch, as you will take damage from them.

The bony creatures that follow you around can easily be rid of with some help from Pec.

The things that look like a stream of saliva are really ropes you can climb up and down on, and the things that look like sharp teeth are spikes.

Watch out when you are on the rope after the first continue point, as there are walls that can clamp down on you if you are not careful. Be sure to turn around to avoid these things as well as the spikes.

When you reach the bottom here, you'll find an unconscious Catry and the light green Rainbow Crystal. (Believe it or not, in the Japanese version of the game, Catry is a skeleton here and not simply knocked unconscious.) You'll still need to get out of here, so go right, climb the ropes, avoid the spikes and acid droplets and make your way to the top. When the music stops, you'll hear the sound of a sword slicing through the level. When you come out, you'll find out that Don Jacoby has saved you from the sand worm.

He then runs into a nearby pyramid, and Andy gives chase.

PrinceWatercress plays Ardy Lightfoot - Part 1 of 6

Well, after seeing this one in action, it was only a matter of time before I gave this one a go.

The game begins with a brief intro credits scene before you go to the title screen. This really helps set the tone for the game and shows Ardy doing a few things. Nice.

Prologue

The game starts out simply enough. You are Ardy Lightfoot, and the blue guy following you around is Pec. Left and Right on the Control Pad allow you to move left and right, respectively. Holding Left or Right long enough allows you to run. Up allows Ardy to hold a mirror in front of him, which allows him to avoid damage for as long as he holds it, and Down lets you crouch. Up lets you look up, but if you keep holding it, Ardy pulls out and holds up a magic mirror that makes him invincible. He will eventually put it back, but if you keep holding Up, he will pull it back out and start holding it up again. You can jump with B and throw Pec forward with Y or A to use him as a weapon, and if Pec bites anybody, they're going down. Pec also acts as an extra hit. Get hit once, and Pec dies. The only way you'll be able to defeat enemies then is to jump on their heads. Get hit without Pec, and you die. 

The HUD in the upper-left corner is also simple enough. You have the number of extra lives followed by the amount of stars you've collected. 100 stars nets you an extra life.

Ardy can leap off the ground with his tail, similar to Scrooge McDuck's cane in the two DuckTales games, though executing it is a little different. Press B while in mid-air and you'll land on your tail. Hold down B to charge power when you're on the ground, then release the button to use it. As long as you're holding B when you land, you'll still be able to use your tail and bounce multiple times.

Push the crate near the tall wall to the wall, then charge up the tail jump and release the jump button to clear it. You'll go down a slope, where you will find a red bomb. Walk up to the bomb and pick it up with the Y button, then walk to the wall and press Y again to lay the bomb down. (You can also pick up items by throwing Pec at them.) The bomb will blow up the wall and you'll be able to continue. Be sure to walk away from the bomb so it doesn't hurt you.

After making your way to the right, you'll come across a gravel floor that will crumble under your weight, causing Ardy and Pec to slide down a slope. Head to the right and you'll find a tablet! This completes the prologue.

You'll then transition to another scene. A huge, shadowy figure behind a red curtain in a fortress somewhere in the world bosses around a mole with a spiky helmet on his head. The mole nods, then heads out to do...something.

You'll then go to a map screen. Ardy Lightfoot will come out of a hole in the ground and head to a barn. This is actually a cabin of some sort, and Ardy hands the tablet to the elder, who reads the tablet.

"Long ago, great power created a rainbow. Many bad things happened and the great power was lost. Then the power was divided into seven pieces. When these seven pieces meet again, any wish will come true. One returned to the earth. Another sunk to the bottom of a dark cold water. Another piece left forgotten in a deserted town. And another one disappeared into the outer sea...."

This is all that the elder is able to read, and this text scrolls by rather fast. Suddenly, the nearby village catches fire, and Ardy has to leap into action.

Scene 1: Mining Town Ablaze

The green guys that leap up and down can easily be dispatched by throwing Pec at them. Pec just eats them right up. Some of these green guys will throw bombs at you, but if you can figure out where the bombs will land (they're terrible at aiming) you can fight them off fairly easy with Pec. Some of them will also give the villagers a hard time, but if you get rid of them, the villagers will be able to escape.

The treasure chests can be opened by walking into them. They usually contain treasures such as stars, but it also helps to open them in case you've lost Pec, as you usually get him back this way. If you die, treasures do re-spawn, so keep that in mind.

The gray monkey statue with the quill pen and scroll is a continue point. Leap on his head, and he'll start writing, documenting your journey so far. After the continue point, there will be a green guy on a plane dropping bombs at you. If you keep moving in one direction, you'll run as opposed to walking.

The green guy on the airplane will eventually crash into the water tower. Unfortunately for him, he's as easy as the rest of the enemies you've come into contact with.

You'll then meet the mole with the spiky helmet. Turns out, his name is Grounder. When he charges at you after you meet him, stand to the right of the barrels and duck. He'll eventually head into the well along with two flunkies. The Elder and the girl that was with him in the red house at the beginning shows up, having followed you to the well. Ardy and Pec automatically jump in to go after Grounder.

Scene 2: Grounder's Mine

The conveyor belts will move you in any given direction, while the buckets on chains will pull you to higher heights whenever you jump into them. The "merry-go-rounds" go in a circle, and you'll have to wait to get from one bucket to another. Be sure not to take damage from the green guys in the helmets, as you can easily lose Pec to them and they can't be killed.

After the continue point, you'll come across a bucket. Jump into it and hold Right on the Control Pad. When you see an opening to the right, get to it immediately or else you're going to lose a life. The chest to the right will contain Pec if you've lost him. From here, you'll have to deal with conveyor belts, wooden spikes and the green guys again...and this time these guys are flying. Throw Pec at them to make getting them out of your way easier. The chest in the upper-right corner of the spike and conveyor belt area contains an extra life, which is signified by a miniature Ardy Lightfoot. (By the way, there is another extra life in a chest just after the start, and thankfully, both extra lives re-spawn if you die.)

On the set of baskets to the right, you'll have to throw Pec at the green guy in the bucket to the right in order to ride that bucket. You'll see another set of merry-go-rounds, and once again, the green guys will be riding in the buckets. Get rid of them with Pec, and watch out for the broken buckets as you won't be able to utilize them at all. You'll soon reach the exit.

Scene 3: Tunnel Chase

You're in an auto-scrolling area. You'll need to jump into the mine cart or else risk being left far behind and forced to lose a life - not an easy task if this is your first time playing the game - and stay on it. When on the mine cart, duck under the low ceilings to avoid taking damage. Watch out for the bombs being dropped by the green guy on the other mine cart, as well as their explosions. You'll eventually lose the guy after he gets knocked off the mine cart, but the ride ends pretty quickly as you run into a wall...and meet up with Grounder, who is also coming after you. You'll eventually have to fight this guy.

When you get launched into the boss battle room, don't move. Otherwise, you'll get hit.

Avoid the blocks of dirt that drop from the ceiling whenever he stomps the floor. Thankfully, it's easy to see where to stand when you pay attention to the top of the screen. When he throws his spiked helmet, jump towards his his head and press B in mid-air to hit him with your tail on the way down. Avoid the helmet. When he changes color, he's close to death, and he will eventually go down. You'll get the yellow Rainbow Crystal for your trouble. (You can either move around and jump to avoid the rocks and the helmet respectively, or you can use the mirror like I did. LOL.)

After you get the yellow gem, the girl - whose name is Nina - is praying for you to return when a guy in brown clothes and a fedora - whose name is Don Jacoby - with a gun in his hands jumps into the well. Nina fears the worst.

Ardy eventually reaches the forest, and meets an old woman. She'll tell you about a female cat thief named Catry who stole another Rainbow Crystal much like the one you got, and asks you to go get it.

PrinceWatercress plays Griffin - The Longplay

Enjoy!

PrinceWatercress plays Griffin - Part 2 of 2

Well, this didn't take long.

Stage 5

Stage 5 is much like Stage 1, but there are more enemies than ever before. Any power-ups that you had in the last stage will transfer over here. Thankfully, most of the enemies will be in the same positions that they were in the first loop.

The helicopter and tank-like bosses are the same as ever, though you'll probably have better guns.

Stage 6

It's back to Stage 2, and not much has changed here.

Stage 7

Unlike the first loop, you skip straight to the enemy base; you don't have to do the flying stage anymore. There will be a lot more turrets, however. You may have to make some risky moves to keep your energy up, too. Hopefully, you've saved all your bombs for this stage.

If you have any more bombs at the final boss, use them here. This will make destroying all four turrets easier and you'll be able to beat the game!

PrinceWatercress plays Griffin - Part 1 of 2

You're a blue-haired girl. You pilot a tank. You shoot things.

Stage 1

The Control Pad lets you move around, Button 1 lets you shoot your regular projectiles while Button 2 lets you use screen-clearing bombs. The blue, yellow and red bar on the right is your shield gauge, and when that depletes after taking too much damage, the game is over.

Pressing Start allows you to switch between the main weapon and the sub-weapon.

You can only shoot in the direction that you are currently facing, so you may have to position yourself in a way as to move around and then face and shoot at the things you're trying to destroy.

The P items increase the power of your guns, while the B items give you more screen-clearing bombs. The E items refill your shields. The C items improve your speed, allowing you to move faster.

The mini-boss here is a helicopter. Keep moving back and forth to avoid being shoot, and remember to face upwards to shoot the helicopter down.

The planes after the mini-boss will try to destroy you with bombs; just stay far away from them to avoid them.

The blue tanks do not fire at you despite having a cannon.

The real boss is a tank-like base that has four turrets. If you can get one turret to fire at you diagonally, you'll get more time to shoot at the other turrets. When you take all the turrets down, you'll clear the stage and get a picture of the blue-haired girl from the title screen.

Stage 2

The tanks that move left and right shoot missiles now.

You'll fight the helicopter mini-boss again, but if you've been collecting every power-up you can, it will be much easier to destroy this time around.

To beat the boss, stay in the lower-left corer and pay attention to whats going on while destroy the left arm. From there, work on the other one without getting hit by any of the projectiles. You may get hit once or twice, but you'll be seeing another picture of the blue-haired girl soon enough.

Stage 3

This time around, you're flying upwards automatically. Keep holding Button 1 down to fire shots the whole time and pay attention to what's going on; if something shoots at you, move away from the shots. You may have to avoid some enemies as well, especially the gray spherical enemies that move at you diagonally.

The boss here is a battle ship. Watch where all the shots go and keep firing so you can hit the turrets whenever possible. Stay on the move and don't focus on any one of the three turrets for too long to avoid getting destroyed. After another picture of the blue-haired girl, it's on to Stage 4.

Stage 4

Shoot down the wall, then take out the turret on the right first. You can use the sub-weapon to take out the blue mechas that come at you from the side, though I keep using bombs.

If you see any brown and black walls, shoot at them to destroy them. The walls will hurt you if you touch them

The flame jets will instantly destroy you if you stay in front of them for too long. Move past them as they retreat back into the wall.

If you die, you will lose all your power-ups, but the game isn't impossible if you die once, unlike other shooters.

The boss here is a superlaser with four turrets. Keep moving from one side to the other and take out the turrets much like you did against the battleship, and never stay in the center or else the big red laser will get you. Also, watch where the shots are going and try not to run into them.

When you beat this stage, you'll start the game's second loop.

Shadow of the Ninja - The OST

Here it is: the soundtrack to Shadow of the Ninja all in one playlist.

PrinceWatercress plays Shadow of the Ninja - Part 2 of 2

Well, that was quick. But as you'll see, this is the harder half of the game.

Stage 4-1

The gray guys with the guns duck down to shoot their projectiles like mortar shots. Thankfully, the shots are easier to avoid on their way down than the way up.

To defeat the turrets, remember that they shoot two shots and alternate between cannons. Also, the lights on the top can hurt you, as well as the explosions caused by their bullets. 

The gray guy with the blue pants will somersault back and forth three times before making a slightly shorter hop, and after that, they will leave themselves vulnerable to attack. The shurikens and the kisarigama make this guy a lot easier to take down.

Stage 4-2

You'll have conveyor belts now, as well as spinning yellow circular blades that rotate around big blue spheres. Watch where you're going on the belts and see which direction the little rectangles spin to see which direction they take you, and stay away from the blades.

The orange ninjas will slowly walk towards you before turning into a tornado and quickly moving back and forth. Even in tornado form, they can still be hit.

The orange robots that shoot in two directions and follow the wall take a lot of hits, but they are easily beatable. They also make the section with all the orange platforms harder.

The orange platforms loop when they reach the top or bottom of the screen. You can grab onto the bottom of them and get up on them from there. The blue ones are like the orange ones, but they go down if you stand on them. If you hold Down on the Control Pad while standing on them however, they'll suddenly start going up. Interesting.

After a ride up on a big orange elevator, you'll be at Stage 4-3.

Stage 4-3

You'll fight a rather trendy-looking guy (for a 1990's vision of 2029 in this game, anyway) who jumps around and has a hawk flying overhead. Hit him a few times and back away a little bit so he doesn't either jump at you or kick at you. He can also send the hawk at you, too, and you'll have to avoid the hawk when that happens. When you damage him enough times, the hawk will fuse with him and turn him into a hawkman.

Keep a good distance away so you don't get divebombed, and move to avoid the lasers the hawkman fires downwards soon after it goes back up into the air. From here, you'll have to stay on the move and watch the hawkman to avoid being divebombed. If the hawkman goes to the corner and does not flap his wings, that is when he will fire the lasers. You'll have an easier time avoiding the divebomb if the hawkman is to the side rather than in the center.

Stage 5-1

Duck down and stay close to slice and dice the spider robots and avoid all the fireballs they shoot upwards.

The purple things with the flashing yellow lights are bombs. Get close to make the lights flash faster, then get away to avoid the explosion.

The walls with the wide slots on them shoot out projectiles. Thankfully, there are some safe spots where you can avoid them at.

The red robots that shot their rocket fists out will stand in place. The orange guys with the guns shoot rings that come at you like boomerangs, but you can stand in a certain spot where the rings circle around to save yourself from being hit.

Stage 5-2

The purple ninjas will either just crouch down and stab at you repeatedly, or they will throw spears. The former can be hit easily and will continue to stand in place. If they block, stop attacking them for a little while, then strike when they strike. The guys with the spears are deadeyes and will track where you are as they throw spears at you.

At the vertical auto-scrolling section, the box on the right at the beginning contains the kisarigama. 

The rolling ball is slow and indestructible; just jump over it.

Near the end, the box on the left gives you an temporary invincibility shield, while the box on the right gives you full health. I'd rather take full health, honestly.

You'll finally face Emperor Garuda at the end. You'll need the kisarigama for this; it will make the battle a little easier. Stay near him for a few hits, then get to the far right side. He will run at you and slash at you, but he will only go a short distance. Hit him a few more times. When he jumps, go under him and avoid the shurikens he throws downwards and the energy waves that are created when the shurikens hit the ground. He will also fire an energy blast forward; be on the center platform and ducking down to avoid that. Get just right of center and duck down, then go left after the energy waves are gone and hit him. Go just left of center and attack. When he runs at you, move right to avoid getting slashed at, then hit him a few times. Get right next to the edge of the right-hand platform and duck down, then run to the left and be right of the center of the screen to avoid his shurikens and energy waves, and duck down to avoid the energy blast. He will jump again to the left with his usual attacks; watch the shurikens, duck the energy blast, then go left to attack him a few times with the kisarigama. You'll have him in a loop, and all that's left is memorizing by trial and error where to stand when and remembering to duck to avoid the energy blasts that are shot forward.

Also, if you climb down the ladders, the game punishes you for it by having the dragon statues near the top of the screen spit projectiles at you that you can't avoid...so don't even try it.

When the boss turns red, he will become a lot faster, and whenever he leaps from the ground after the running slash, he will leave that energy wave in his wake. You will want to strike once and immediately run away during that rushing attack, and getting the timing down will take some practice. If you can keep up with him and get in damage where you can, you'll beat Emperor Garuda and free America! You've won!

PrinceWatercress plays Shadow of the Ninja - Part 1 of 2

Here's another short game. This one was pretty fun, even if it has its hard parts near the end.

The year is 2029. America is under the brutal dictatorship of Emperor Garuda. The only thing that can stop him are two ninjas, Hayate and Kaede.

Hayate and Kaede play the same way, so you don't have to worry about any difference between the two characters.

Stage 1-1

Left and Right let you move around. Down lets you duck. A lets you jump. B lets you attack, and you can hold Up, Up and Left and Up and Right along with pressing B to aim with a weapon that you'll be able to get later.

Defeat the enemies that you see at the start or else they will dog you throughout the stage. Duck to take out the robotic enemies. Thankfully, the enemies in this stage are pretty simple.

The boxes can be opened by attacking them. Shurikens can be thrown by pressing B when you have them equipped, and you can see how many you have by looking at the number next to the health meter on the upper-left corner of the screen. Speaking of health, if you run out, you'll have to use a continue. Yep, the game does the "lives and continues are one and the same" thing. Fun. At least you keep your current melee weapon when you die.

The red potions refill a little bit of your health; the blue potions will refill all of it.

You'll soon find a chain sickle (the proper term for it is kisarigama). This will replace your sword and will give you a longer attack range. You will definitely want to get it if you find it, even if it does have a dodgy hit box, as you can attack enemies that are above you with Up, Up+Left and Up+Right in conjunction with the B button.

The boss here is some guy who runs really fast to slide at you. Dodge him as he moves, then strike at him as he punches at you. If you have the kisarigama, you can hit him twice instead of once before getting ready to move away.

Stage 1-2

The red guys with the shoulder pads will rush at you, and while they can't hurt you, they are annoying. Keep mashing the attack button to keep them at bay.

Take out the purple guys who stand and slash in place when you see them; they can seemingly hit you out of nowhere.

The missile pods shoot missiles, and while they can be destroyed, they take a lot of hits to kill.

You can get the katana back from boxes, but I would not recommend it.

Stage 1-3

Some of the wheels that you see in the background will have platforms on them. If you jump into the underside of a platform, your character will grab on. Press Up on the Control Pad and your character will pull themselves up.

If you fall into a pit, you lose a little bit of energy and you'll re-spawn.

The big red guys with the guns will hold their guns up to block your attacks, and are only vulnerable when shooting their guns.

Stage 1-4

The boss here is a red robot with an eye. When it lands, it will shoot mortar shots upwards before flying upwards and coming down in a sine-wave platform. Keep near it so it doesn't fly around wildly, and keep smacking it when its eye is open as it fires. You'll take damage, but the robot will go down before you do. If you have the kisarigama, this battle is a little bit easier since you can aim upwards if you need to. Beating a boss will refill a little bit of your health.

Stage 2-1

You'll be in the sewers now.

The ninjas that jump out of the water will stay in place and throw shurikens every so often. Be ready to strike it quickly if and when you manage to get near them.

The mid-boss is some sort of worm that pops out of one of two holes below the ground. Keep your distance, strike the blue head and be ready to jump over the projectiles it shoots out.

After that, you'll be in a vertical section. Watch out for the steam that shoots downwards out of the pipes, and if you need to, use the platforms you can hang off the underside of to your advantage by holding Down and pressing A to grab onto the underside so you can face the robots here without taking damage.

The boomerang throwers can be a bit of a pain, but they are easier to hit with the kisarigama. If you can attack the boomerang guys fast enough, you can knock their projectiles out of the air.

The shurikens are useful against the helicopter robots that come at you.

Stage 2-2

The robots with the cannon arms shoot a single shot forward. Duck when you fight them, as they split in two after taking enough damage and the upper body will fly around and attack. The sliding guy is fairly fast but is beatable.

The marbles are bombs. You can use them to take out some of the red guys that slide and punch...who are basically the first mini-boss now bumped down to normal enemy status. Thanks for that, game!

Stage 2-3

The boss is a tank. Shoot at the cannon with what looks like a blue claw in it to reveal a red cannon that will shoot multiple fireballs into the air. Strike it once (twice with the kisarigama), then move away. If you are on the ground, there will be a laser cannon that shoots blue fireball projectiles that you will have to jump over to avoid. You can destroy that cannon, but there's not much of a point to it.

Stage 3-1

You'll be on the rooftops of some buildings, so be careful where you jump as you fight the cannon arm robots. Further on, you'll see enemies that move from one side of the screen to the other, as well as monkey enemies that bounce up and down and try to lunge at you.

If you can attack the boomerang guys fast enough, you can knock their projectiles out of the air.

Some of the big red guys with the guns here can kneel down to shoot, and they can also aim downwards from a standing position.

The boss here is a samurai. Watch the bottom of the screen to see where he will show up from, and stay on the move so he doesn't hit you. Hit him several times and he will eventually explode before pulling himself back together. Better to be hit by that than the sword.

I CAN'T THINK OF AN EPILOGUE SO HERE'S AT LEAST TEN FAT RACCOONS HIDING IN A PORCH

LOOK AT THESE ABSOLUTE UNITS

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 9 of 9

...now for some miscellaneous stuff.

If you want to see that bomb shooting enemy fall to one Magnet Mine, the path below the one that leads to the Shoryuken, Overdrive Ostrich falling to the Crystal Hunter, Wheel Gator falling to the Strike Chain, the battle with Zero and the alternate ending, this is the video for you! Sadly, no Sonic Slicer use against Sigma, but I make Sigma my bitch here compared to the previous video.

If you didn't put Zero back together, you'll have to fight the real Zero. He'll dash around, shoot multiple shots and punch the ground to cause parts of the ground to fly upwards in an attempt to hit you out of the air if you try to dash over him. The X-Buster upgrade is really good here, as you can store two shots and keep one of them if you get hit. Your projectiles from the upgrade's full charge will go through the ones Zero shoots, so take advantage of that.

Also, Zero can destroy the computer in the background with relative ease during his Maverick-induced rage with his ground pound attack, which is actually pretty impressive.

When you nearly kill Zero, Zero will come back to his senses and he will help destroy the computer. You'll still have to drop down and face Sigma as normal.

Interestingly, Zero showed up either way for me, but if you don't have any of the enhancements, Zero doesn't show up in the ending. Weird.

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 8 of 9

Sigma's back, and he is more dangerous than before...but he is beaten once again.

X-Hunter Fortress - Stage 5

Okay, this is really bizarre.

The stage is exactly the same as Magna Centipede's, right down to the spotlights and the traps. The only difference is that the music is from the intro stage.

When you make your way to the mini-boss room where you fought the sword, you meet Sigma...and Zero? Why is Zero here standing next to Sigma? More importantly, why is he gray? (A precursor to Black Zero from Mega Man X4?)

Sigma is about to send this gray Zero at you, but before that can happen, a few powered-up buster shots ring out from behind X and destroy him before anything can even happen. It's the real Zero, and he's back and better than ever! Sigma then mentions that Zero was born to follow him. (This is barely hinted at in this game, but is fleshed out a lot more in subsequent games.) Zero then goes after the main computer and asks you to go after Sigma.

Afterwards, go down the hole Zero makes to meet Sigma again. Claws will come out of knuckles, making it look like Sigma is going through some sort of Wolverine phase. Or something. I dunno.

The Sonic Slicer is his weakness...and you'll want to use it as wisely as possible as you stay on the move. You cannot afford to stay in one spot during this fight as you will get hit.

Anyway, Sigma will leap off the walls before disappearing after the second one. He'll re-converge and drop down where you're at. You'll want to stay away from him at all times as you hit him with the Sonic Slicer. This is especially during his reappearance, because his standing claw swipe will knock you into the wall and then into the ceiling, which can be more aggravating than not.

The five projectiles that Sigma will send at you will track your current positions. They're tough to dodge. Hope you have four full Sub-Tanks.

If Sigma glows yellow once while he stands still, wall jump out of the way immediately, as Sigma is about to shoot out some Hadouken-like projectile of his hands.

When you beat Sigma, he explodes just like the rest of the Mavericks...only for some disembodied, see-through, wire-frame Sigma head to come out of nowhere and immediately aim for X as it twitches around.

Sigma's floating head flies from left to right while frying the ground with eye lasers when it's not flying at you trying to go for a direct hit. It can also spawn blue cubes that can transform into either the birds from the bird-spawning pads, the fish from the Bubble Crab stage or the screwdriver robots. The small enemies may drop power-ups, which makes this a tad easier...but not by much!

The only weapons that will do any damage are the Strike Chain and the fully-charged shots from the X-Buster upgrade. That is it.

Despite having no visible health bar, you can still damage Sigma's disembodied noggin. As a matter of fact, you're supposed to. The head changes from green to blue to purple to orange to red. When he turns red, he starts teleporting around the room. If he gets on top of you, he'll slowly drain your life. When that happens, hit him repeatedly with the Strike Chain.

When you beat Sigma's head, you'll destroy the computer that it came from along with it. Sigma will tell you that Zero is the last of "the doctor's" creations. (This also gets fleshed out somewhat as the series progresses.)

X and Zero (if you saved him) watch the sun rise and X questions his destiny yet again, then X rides away on a jet bike as the enemy roll call runs. Then, Zero shows up on the "Thank you for playing!" screen and does his triple shot before standing there. If you saved Zero, the real Zero shows up. If you didn't, it's the black Zero. (Why it works that way, I'll never know.)

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 7 of 9

Of course, he'd be back.

X-Hunter Fortress - Stage 3

Oh, no. Oh, boy.

Everything's all good and everything...then you reach the platform. We've seen the platform here before, but in order to get where you need to go, you need to jump and quickly orientate the platform so that the green triangle in the center is pointing where you want it to go. The directions go right, down, left and up. It goes clockwise as you keep jumping on it, so you'll have to time your jumps and do them quickly if you want to get anywhere in one piece.

When you make it to the top of that shaft that requires the flying platform, you'll see two ladders - one leading up and one leading down. Lure the two bats towards you and hit one of them with the Crystal Hunter. Use the crystallized bat as a platform to the ladder leading up. You'll find two large health pick-ups and an extra life, but that's not all!

Keep going right, and charge through the spike pit with the charged-up Speed Burner. Take the wheel enemies out, make a small hop straight up and dash forward. Keep going right. Charge up the Speed Burner to go to the right, then dash to left when you make it past the first part of the winding path full of spikes. Slide down the left wall. You'll enter a hidden room with a capsule. The capsule will only show up if you have nine lives, full health, all enhancements, all of the Zero Parts, all the Heart Tanks and all four sub-tanks filled up. Inside is Ken's Dragon Punch (aka the Shoryuken) from Street Fighter II. It's even used the same way: Forward, Down, Down-Forward, and Y. It can take down a lot of enemies and even make short work of bosses, but it can only be performed if your health is full.

From there, you can drop down and finish the rest of the stage. Use the Crystal Hunter to freeze the bugs in place and use them as platforms to get across the spikes.

Agile will be in a machine of his own when you fight him. He can send out missiles that fly across the room (and into the foreground!) and he also sends out spiked platforms that can hit you when they fall down. When he glows red, he canot be damaged until he stops glowing.

Stay under him when he makes the spiked platforms, and you won't get hit. Thankfully, the spiked platforms are not instant death. As for the missiles, stay out of the air.

The best weapon to use is the Magnet Mine. Charge it up with the X-Buster upgrade, then get up to his level and let loose. The slow-moving energy orb will make quick work of him, and you can take him out in quite a few shots.

X-Hunter Fortress - Stage 4

Climb up the walls and you'll find a teleporter. Step inside and you'll be in a room with eight more. Unlike the last game, the bosses are all in separate rooms much like the classic Mega Man saga.

From upper-left to upper right, the order of the teleporters are: Morph Moth, Wire Sponge, Bubble Crab, Flame Stag, Magma Centipede, Crystal Snail, Overdrive Ostrich, and Wheel Gator. The same strategies apply.

Flame Stag strangely has an alternate color scheme (and blue flames!) when you face him here. Wire Sponge's room is smaller this time around. Magna Centipede's room has a higher ceiling. The area where you fight Overdrive Ostrich in the X-Hunter Fortress is much different compared to where you do it in the actual stage. You have far less room to manuever (and far less area to look at, too).

Oh, and if you still want to refill your energy, the four center platforms at the top have health pick-ups...but they're the small ones. I guess Capcom expected you to come prepared here.

When you beat all of the Mavericks a second time around, Sigma finally shows himself. Well, he speaks to you, anyway. Time to head out of this chamber before it explodes!

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 6 of 9

We've beaten all the Robot Masters. It's time for the X-Hunter Fortress...

X-Hunter Fortress - Stage 1

This stage is just dead simple. Surem the wall-crusher parts may be a bit non-linear and require you to use the air dash to get to the other side when necessary, but even then you can get through them without much trouble if you know what to do.

You could take the upper path and do all those all jumps as soon as you see it, but not yet. If you need it, go down for a 1-Up and two large energy pick-ups.

The claws will try to force you to use the lower path. The upper path is more effortless, believe it or not.

You'll fight Violen again at the end. There will be two blocks that act as platforms which Violen can change the position of (which is completely random) when he raises his arms. He has the same attack pattern as last time, but thanks to the blocks the mace can be easier to avoid at times. Hit him with Bubble Splash, now that you have all the weapons. It does the most damage.

X-Hunter Fortress - Stage 2

The first half of this stage takes place underwater and uses elements from Bubble Crab's stage.

You'll need to use the wall jump techniques on the floating columns to get past some of the spike pits.

For the spike pit with the two bats, hit the bats with Crystal Hunter so you can dash to the other side. The brown blocks can be removed with the Spin Wheel. You can charge up the Speed Burner to get the 1-Up, but it takes some practice to time that just right and you'll more than likely lose more than one life trying to get it, making going for the extra life rather pointless.

The boss is Serges in a machine. Jump on the platforms, and destroy the laser cannons with Silk Shot or Magnet Mine. Stay on the platforms, as he'll destroy them until two are left as you destroy the laser cannons. From there, get off the platforms and stand on the front of Serge's machine, charge up Sonic Slicer and unleash it on Serges. It'll hit him every time. The fireballs he shoots in his second form split into form, and the four fireballs from the split alternate between cardinal (horizontal and vertical directions) and intermediate (diagonal) directions. Since you're standing on the one safe spot of the machine, he won't be able to even reach you, and the fireballs will barely be able to hit you. Fire away.

SOMEBODY ACTUALLY POOPED THIS (poop by @SiEmPank_YTP)

GOTTA GO FAST WHEN THE STROWMAN APPEARS

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 5 of 9

In this episode, we finally take down the last of the Mavericks. It's on to the X-Hunter Stages!

Wheel Gator

Wheel Gator Map (by Geminiman)

You will need the X-Buster upgrade for this.

Head back to where the Heart Tank is. It's that spiked wall to the left of the top of a ladder shortly after the beginning. Jump to the platform to the right, then charge up your newly-acquired Speed Burner and leap to the left before releasing Y. If you do it right, you'll rocket all the way to the Heart and get over the spikes to acquire the Heart Tank.

Magna Centipede

Magna Centipede Map (by Geminiman)

The purple robots that fly back and forth are as quick as they are irritating. Hit them with a fully charged X-Buster shot, then shoot them in the center while they're stunned with their shields down.

Avoid the searchlights, too. They cause the grey blocks to come down from the ceiling and shoot at you. If you offscreen them, they'll return back to their normal positions.

There's a passageway leading up shortly after the beginning. You'll need the X-Buster upgrade for this. Charge up the Speed Burner so that you can launch yourself to the grey block to the left of this passage. From there, you can wall jump to the Heart Tank.

You'll also want to do this for the Sub-Tank in this level as well. You're supposed to use the blocks before the passage going upwards just before the mini-boss room, but if you can time it right, it's definitely doable.

Wait for the large grey blocks to stop moving before you continuing. If any of these big blocks are a pale pink, shoot at them to break them. Some of them may also contain power-ups.

The mini-boss is a hologram of a sword. You'll want to hit the handle as it swings back and forth and flies toward you. The blade is completely invulnerable.

After taking out the boss, you'll go down another vertical shaft full of flying robots and searchlights. Then, you'll be dealing with falling rocks that transform into floor segments. If the target reaches X, it will read his data, but it won't shoot at him or anything.

If you can make it to the end in time, you can enter the X-Hunter segment (if you need to). Otherwise, you'll have to take the top path to succeed.

The robot here will jump back and forth and shoot at X. It falls after 11 hits from the Speed Burner. If the target read your data, the robot becomes faster and harder to fight, but it still takes 11 Speed Burner shots to kill it.

From there, you'll have to deal with the blocks that shoot you, falling bridges and the big grey blocks trying to push you into open pits.

Hit Magna Centipede with the Silk Shot so he loses his tail. This will make fighting him much easier, as fighting him the hard way can be somewhat difficult.

Magna Centipede will teleport around the room, leaping around and firing at you. If you hit him with the Silk Shot, he'll lose his tail, which kills his offense a bit. From there, he'll just teleport and jump around. Sometimes he'll teleport and then teleport again, but he'll stay in place for a moment after the second time in such a case.

The Silk Shot fires in an X pattern, so if you know how it fires, you can even hit him while he's on the ceiling.

Beating Magna Centipede will give you the Magnet Mines, which can stick to walls and work...well...like mines. Charging it turns into a powerful orb that slowly moves forward.

Crystal Snail

Crystal Snail Map (by GeminiMan)

The cave cycles through the color spectrum here, which shows just how much of the 16-bit technology Capcom played around with at the time.

Grab the Robot Ride armor, then go to the left and drop down the pit. Do a double jump on the Robot Ride armor, then ditch it at the top of your jump and keep going left. You're supposed to use the Strike Chain to grab onto the wall, but if you can get enough height on the double jump, you won't need it. From there, you can take a platform back.

Grab the Robot Ride again, and keep going right. Watch the icy slopes, as they speed you up dramatically even if you're not dashing. You'll land in a pit of spikes. Punch the blocks to the right, then move to the right as jump out of the Robot Ride. Jump over the pit, then hide in the hole in the ground as the huge icy wall comes apart and slides downward to the left. This will break a third block the Robot Ride can't reach. If you want, you can now get the Robot Ride out of that spike pit and take it with you through the level again.

Above this is the path to the X-Hunter room. You'll need the Robot Ride in order to break the blocks. The columns from the Bubble Crab stage are here, and since they are, I can finally mention what they do. Guess what? They're just platforms that float up and down. Use them to get to the X-Hunter area and fight...whomever, depending on how your game is going, in case you have yet to fight them.

The cave cycles through the color spectrum here, which shows just how much of the 16-bit technology Capcom played around with at the time.

Grab the Robot Ride armor, then go to the left and drop down the pit. Do a double jump on the Robot Ride armor, then ditch it at the top of your jump and keep going left. You're supposed to use the Strike Chain to grab onto the wall, but if you can get enough height on the double jump, you won't need it. From there, you can take a platform back.

Grab the Robot Ride again, and keep going right. Watch the icy slopes, as they speed you up dramatically even if you're not dashing. You'll land in a pit of spikes. Punch the blocks to the right, then move to the right as jump out of the Robot Ride. Jump over the pit, then hide in the hole in the ground as the huge icy wall comes apart and slides downward to the left. This will break a third block the Robot Ride can't reach. If you want, you can now get the Robot Ride out of that spike pit and take it with you through the level again.

If you still have the Robot Ride armor when you take the normal route, you can get some power-ups as well as a 1-Up.

The crystallized robots that stick to the walls shoot lasers that bounce off the walls.

You'll come across a robot encased in a crystal. Shoot at the robot inside and avoid the other robot that flies around that shoots lasers directly at you. The robot will also send out another robot just like the one that fires at you, but if you charge up all your X-Buster shots while fighting this thing and focus solely on the robot in the crystal (the two that fly around are indestructible), you should be okay.

Run down the slope to avoid that huge crystal wall that comes at you from behind, but don't forget to slide down the wall after that to get the helmet upgrade. This lets you find secret object and hidden rooms easily.

You may notice a ladder leading to an empty room near the end. Climb up to it and charge up the Silk Shot. You'll cause several large weapon pick-ups to appear. There are a few empty rooms in the game that allow you to do something like this.

You'll have to go back to avoid the crystal walls that slide at you past that point.

When Crystal Snail stops spinning around and stands in place, he's vulnerable. Hit him with a Magnet Mine, then put another mine on the wall while he's stunned. Jump over him when he rushes at you, and avoid him as he returns to his shell. This will let you cause some major damage.

Crystal Snail's main attack is the ability to slow down time. That's not lag you're seeing. X is actually slowed down, which makes avoiding Crystal Snail difficult at times. Just keep hitting him every chance you get, and he won't be able to use it often.

Beating Crystal Snail gives you the Crystal Hunter. It encases enemies in crystal, and you can then use the enemies like platforms. Charging it up lets you slow down everything around you, much like Crystal Snail did.

When you beat all of the Mavericks, you'll know the location of the X-Hunters base thanks to Dr. Cain. We won't be going there just yet, though. We still have a few more things to find.

Morph Moth

Morph Moth Map (by Revned)

Use the Crystal Hunter on the first shield robot in the level. Use him as a platform to leap to the wall to the right. You'll get a 1-Up and a Heart Tank for you efforts.

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 4 of 9

Now we're getting somewhere!

Wire Sponge

Wire Sponge Map (by Zeric)

 The green robots that fly around here drop bombs that turn into path-blocking cacti you have to shoot out of existence when they hit the ground and also try to fly into you. Some of them also shoot out blue bombs that turn into dragonflies that fly at you.

Wire Sponge will try to jump and swing around the room, but if you have the Sonic Slicer, you can put an end to any of his attacks immediately. The best thing about the Sonic Slicer is that it can bounce off walls, so if you miss, it can keep going up to the ceiling as it bounces off the walls. You can tag Wire Sponge from behind with it!

Wire Sponge can shoot seeds that turn into plants that can block your path. He can also launch himself into the wall at you with his Strike Chains, and he can power up and shoot bolts of lightning around him. Keep away from him and keep hitting him in the head with the Sonic Slicer as necessary and you should be fine.

If you finish off Wire Sponge with the Sonic Slicer, he gets sliced in half as he explodes.

Beating Wire Sponge gives you the Strike Chain. It lets you grab onto walls much like Wire Sponge's version can.

Flame Stag

Flame Stag Map (by Revned)

Copying and pasting here, since I do explain some stuff again here as I've gotten the collectibles here.

To take care of that stag beetle robot, just have it plow into the wall where you're supposed to go. This wall will block the path to the rest of the level. If you can lure it upwards, though, you'll be able to access a 1-Up as well as a Sub-Tank. To do that, lure the stag beetle robot to the right, then stand on the flat part of its head. It will take you up to some platforms that you couldn't normally access. There you go. If you go low, however, the stag beetle robot will break the wall when lined up to it, then explode.

You'll then be in a race against the lava in an upward climb. If you're quick, you can get rid of the wall robot that blocks your path and get the Heart Tank behind it.

Once you make it away from that volcanic eruption waiting to happen, you'll be able to continue to the right. If you even do so much as do a wall kick on the column-like platforms, you'll cause them to sink into the lava with a mighty quake.

The vertical shaft with the pipes with the pink stripes in the walls may seem harmless at first, but the lizards that walk down the walls and glide their way down turn the fumes into the flames if they're not trying to hit you with three-way shots.

If you're wondering why the area where you fight Flame Stag is huge, well, that's because Flame Stag will wall jump to you until he hits you. You're going to be moving around quite a bit as you fight him.

Do you have the Bubble Splash? If you do, just shoot him with it and jump over the fireball he throws before shooting him again. It won't take long at all to get him in a loop like this and get rid of him very, very easily.

Beating Flame Stag will give you the Speed Burner - a much larger version of Flame Stag's fireball that quickly travels across the screen. Powering it up lets you rocket forward, much like on Flame Stag's regular attacks.

Bubble Crab

Bubble Crab Map (by Revned)

You will need the X-Buster upgrade for these.

Make your way through the stage until you start seeing the columns that make up the undersea colonies in the background. When you do that, charge up Bubble Splash and release the Y button. Bubbles will rotate around you, allowing you to jump even higher in the water. From there, you'll want to get to the surface and keep jumping, so you can double jump on the water. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to get the Sub-Tank from this level.

For the Heart Tank, you'll want to head back to the open area where the fish submarine sinks back into door in the ground. Head to the right and charge up Bubble Splash, then use the bubbles to dash to the left and leap to some columns that will act as platforms. From there, it's an easy route to the Heart Tank.

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 3 of 9

We finally take down all three of the X-Hunters. Took us long enough.

Morph Moth

Morph Moth Map (by Revned)

The floating robots will fire at you if you shoot them down, leaving their heads intact. They can also come down and fight you on the ground if you let them.

There will be junk being sucked towards the ceiling that will get in your way shortly after the beginning, but you can shoot it down with the X-Buster. It also allows you to make some low gravity jumps.

Right after this, you'll want to use the Spin Wheel and fire it at the ground. You'll open up a hidden passage in the floor that leaves to the Body Armor capsule. Just like last game, this lets you cut the amount of damage you take from attacks considerably. It also has a new feature: the Giga Crush. Damage you take is changed into an explosive weapon energy that can be used only once but can destroy everything on the screen when the energy for Giga Crush is full.

The wheels with heads are pretty slow. They're easy pickings.

You'll then meet some sort of insect robot that will leap out of a capsule and take control of a nearby junked robot. Shoot at the torso while avoiding the robot's jumping attacks, then take out the insect that jumps out when you finish the robot off. Yet another easy enemy. It shows up in green as a regular enemy, but if you don't finish off this pink version in time, it will reinsert itself into the robot and you'll have to deal with fighting the robots again.

You'll soon climb down a ladder dealing with more of those shield robots, and you'll also be able to get two large health pick-ups. You'll then deal with more junk and (if you take the top route) dragonflies that will charge at you in mid-air. Keep your X-Buster charged up and you should be able to take care of the dragonflies without incident. If they touch you, they latch on to you and make X move and do things on his own until they let go. To make them let go, just move your thumb all over the Control Pad.

If you go to the right past the first shield robot on the climb down, you'll be able to enter an X-Hunter room. In my case, I fight Serges here. Serges rides back and forth on a platform. Sometimes he'll somersault and shoot all over the room. You can dash under him while jumping over the platform when he's in the air if you need to. The platform will also drop mines. If there are too many on the ground, take them out with fully-charged X Buster shots or the Spin Wheel (if you have the latter). Take him out with fully-charged X-Buster shots whenever the shield at the top of the platform is down. This causes him to fall on his back and respond with the somersault energy blasts, but if you have at least one Sub-Tank, this shouldn't be a tough battle at all.

Beating Serges will give you Zero Part No. 01.

After another low-gravity area (with spikes that don't instantly kill you) and another junked robot (and its bug), you'll take on Morph Moth.

Morph Moth is initially in a cocoon. Shoot at the cocoon with fully charged X-Buster shots, and avoid the junk that he spews out. If the cocoon falls to the ground, stay high and keep air dashing to avoid the junk that shoots up as the cocoon moves back and forth before hanging onto the ceiling again. After you bring him down to a certain amount, the ceiling explodes and you'll actually meet Morph Moth. He'll fly around sprinkling some sort of powder around as he flies all over the room. If you have the Speed Burner from Flame Stag's stage, hit him with it. Otherwise, just use the X-Buster from the other side of the room to keep him from suddenly smacking into you while you're in mid-air. If he stops in the center of the room, stay away so you don't get hit by the beam of light he shoots toward the floor. If he's low enough to the ground, he'll shoot it directly at you instead of shooting it directly downwards, so keep that in mind.

Beating Morph Moth gives you the Silk Shot. This lets you shoot debris at enemies, and if you charge it up in certain spots, you can pull out energy instead of the usual junk.

If you have all three Zero Parts, Dr. Cain will tell you he can bring Zero back, but he will need more time to install the control chip. Even though you can't get Zero back right away, you'll get the good ending nevertheless.

Wheel Gator

Wheel Gator Map (by Geminiman)

Shortly after the beginning, you'll need the air dash and be just high enough to dash from the right-hand wall to the left and wall jump from there to get the X-Buster upgrade. By getting this upgrade, you can charge up the X-Buster a little longer to shoot two even more powerful shots. You can also charge up your special weapons and fire them to get move powerful versions of your special weapons.

Overdrive Ostrich

Overdrive Ostrich Map (by Zeric)

There was one section after the sandstorm generator where you can use the bike to launch yourself into a spike-laden area. When you make it into the next building, take the top path, and keep holding Right and A. You'll get the Heart Tank, but you'll immediately crash into the spiked wall and die from touching the spikes. At least you got the Heart Tank. If you have the Speed Burner, the Air Dash and the X-Buster Upgrade, you can get the Heart Tank without the bike. Again, you'll still die, but you'll still get credit for the Heart Tank.

Wheel Gator

Just going here to show you that if you have the X-Buster upgrade, the very beginning of the stage is the best place to farm for things. Just keep moving in and out where the first bird robot generator is and keep destroying, and you should be able to get everything you need to suit up and continue with the game in minutes.

PrinceWatercress plays Mega Man X2 - Part 2 of 9

We take down two Mavericks and two X-Hunters, and we almost beat a third Maverick in the meantime. Due to never having played this game as a kid, this is perhaps the hardest part of the game for me.

Overdrive Ostrich

Overdrive Ostrich Map (by Zeric)

Knock the columns in your path over with the X-Buster.

The one-wheeled robots with the spikes move back and forth, while the scorpion robots sit there and shoot at you.

Instead of going down that ladder, use the Spin Wheel on the dirt wall to the right. You'll find a hidden passage that takes you to a battle with Violen, one of the X-Hunters. It looks like he's the powerhouse of the group.

The doors to the X-Hunters look different to the ones that lead you to the Mavericks, so keep that in mind. If you need to find an X-Hunter area in other stages, feel free to hit up the maps. They're there for a reason.

Violen jumps around and shoots downward in mid-air, and sometimes he'll shoot forward to. Both of those shooting attacks have multiple shots that go in their respective directions at an angle, making avoid the shots a little more difficult.

His nastiest attack, however, is the mace attack. The mace comes out rather fast, and Violen will quickly swing it all around the room as he stands there.

Beating Violen will give you Zero Part No. 02.

Now you'll be able to go back and take that ladder down. Go down further and you'll be able to take a jetbike.

Jump on the jetbike. You won't be able to take damage while you're on, so keep shooting the entire time so you can push the barriers down and not crash into a wall. Left and Right let you change direction and manage your speed, Y lets you shoot and A lets you dash to go faster. You'll run into a sandstorm that makes it harder to see, but it's not really all that bad. When you make it into the next building, take the top path. You'll get the Heart Tank, but you'll immediately crash into the spiked wall and die from touching the spikes. At least you got the Heart Tank.

Crash your bike and then head up the wall to the blocks underneath where the Heart Tank was. Destroy the blocks with Spin Wheel and you'll reveal a path to the Air Dash ability, which lets you dash in-mid air and allows you to climb ladders faster. Take it. It'll come in handy later.

After this, you can head out of here and continue normally. When you reach the rocket, X will automatically destroy it. You'll be back in the desert, and you'll take on Overdrive Ostrich.

Overdrive Ostrich will leap around. You'll want to be under him when he jumps, and that's easier to do when he's going downhill. If he's going up hill, stay away from him until you reach a downward slope and quickly position yourself so that he'll jump right over you, as it is easier for him to hit you while going up a slope. All the while, he mixes it up with two attacks: one where he fires a Sonic Slicer wave out out of his mouth and another where he fires one upwards that turns into four bigger Sonic Slicers that come down around where he fired it.

Sometimes Overdrive Ostrich will run away and run through the background. When he stops, he's going to leap back to where you are. Avoid him and carry on with the battle.

He's also easy to beat with the X-Buster (preferably if you have the upgrade for it), but the Crystal Hunter from Crystal Snail's stage does the most damage.

Beating Overdrive Ostrich gives you the Sonic Slicer. It works much like the boss's regular mouth shot. Powering it up works much like Overdrive Ostrich's other attack - four Sonic Slices come down from above.

Wire Sponge

Wire Sponge Map (by Zeric)

You won't believe where the Heart Tank is. As a matter of fact, it's probably the easiest thing in the game to miss. Wall jump up the left wall at the beginning and you'll find it. That's all. Really.

You can change the weather here with the weather control orbs if you hit them with specific weapons. If everything has a yellowish hue, that means it's humid. If that happens, the frog enemies that just leap forward and shoot at you will immediately fry from the heat and die when on-screen. If it gets dark, it will start raining. Remember the rain from the Toad Man stage in [i]Mega Man 4[/i]? If it rains here, prepare to be blown back while in the air...again. If you have the Crystal Hunter, you can create foggy weather.

At the second orb, go up and take the top path. Go right to find some cool stuff, such as an extra life and one of the four Sub-Tanks! Now you have a portable energy tank! At last! To fill it up, fill your health all the way up, then collect health-pickups. They'll instantly go into your Sub-Tank.

Slide down the wall when you get to where the lifts are, and you'll find the X-Hunters area to the right. (This and the Overdrive Ostrich X-Hunter rooms require something to be accessed, the rest can be found by just exploring and don't require anything. Again, consult the maps.)

From some reason, I face Agile here. Stay on the upper part of the wall to kite him into attacking you. Dash to get under the huge crescent projectiles he shoots out if you're on the ground, and stay away from him as he tries to do a Shoryuken with his sword. If he rushes at you, be ready to wall jump and dash over him. This is easier if you stay on the wall.

Beating Agile will give you Zero Part No. 03.

Flame Stag

Flame Stag Map (by Revned)

To take care of that stag beetle robot, just have it plow into the wall where you're supposed to go. This wall will block the path to the rest of the level. If you can lure it upwards, though, you'll be able to access a 1-Up as well as a Sub-Tank. To do that, lure the stag beetle robot to the right, then stand on the flat part of its head. It will take you up to some platforms that you couldn't normally access. There you go. If you go low, however, the stag beetle robot will break the wall when lined up to it, then explode.

You'll then be in a race against the lava in an upward climb. If you're quick, you can get rid of the wall robot that blocks your path and get the Heart Tank behind it.

Once you make it away from that volcanic eruption waiting to happen, you'll be able to continue to the right. If you even do so much as do a wall kick on the column-like platforms, you'll cause them to sink into the lava with a mighty quake.

The vertical shaft with the pipes with the pink stripes in the walls may seem harmless at first, but the lizards that walk down the walls and glide their way down turn the fumes into the flames if they're not trying to hit you with three-way shots.

If you're wondering why the area where you fight Flame Stag is huge, well, that's because Flame Stag will wall jump to you until he hits you. You're going to be moving around quite a bit as you fight him.

Do you have the Bubble Splash? If you do, just shoot him with it and jump over the fireball he throws before shooting him again. It won't take long at all to get him in a loop like this and get rid of him very, very easily.

Beating Flame Stag will give you the Speed Burner - a much larger version of Flame Stag's fireball that quickly travels across the screen. Powering it up lets you rocket forward, much like on Flame Stag's regular attacks.