It's been a good while since I played Power Blade, so let's play the second game...which isn't as well-remembered, unfortunately.
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It is December 24, 2200. The Delta Foundation has just finished development of a cyborg unit that represents the next generation of fighting robots. They would like to sell it to the Department of Defense, and mention that the cyborg would be a threat to the security of the nation if sold to a foreign country before giving the government a week to respond.
The government considered this matter very seriously and assigned a top secret mission to SP Headquarters. Nova, who saved the New Earth colony by restoring the Master Computer in 2191, is secretly called upon by the Department of Defense to destroy the Delta Foundation. Should something happen to Nova, his superiors cannot get involved.
When you start the game, you'll be able to play the first four stages in any order. Beating all four of these stages will unlock the fifth one. Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to pick between the stages, while Start makes your selection.
Stage 1
Unlike the stages in the first game, the stages here are a lot more linear, a lot more Mega Man-like and much less open. Go through one stage, and you'll figure out why this game isn't as well remembered as the game that precedes it: the level design is by-the-numbers compared to the first game. While it's not completely a bad thing, it does leave a bit to be desired.
At the bottom of the screen, you'll have your HUD. The power of your weapon is at the very top, and picking up stars will increase the power of your attacks. Below all that is the amount of time you have left to play through the level before you lose a life from running out time. Below that is your current amount of health ("Player"), the current amount of energy for your suits ("Energy," which will be explained in due time), the current stage you are in, and the current area of the stage you are in. The last area of a stage will always be the last one before a boss. To the right of all that is a portrait of Nova (which will be useful later), the amount of life canisters that you have, the amount of energy batteries that you have, and the amount of lives that you have.
Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to move left and right. Down allows you to crouch, as well as attack downwards in mid-air. A jumps, while B throws boomerangs, just like in the first game. You can throw diagonally downwards while on the ground, but you can only throw straight downwards in mid-air, where you can attack in eight directions. You can use Up on the D-Pad in conjunction with B to throw your boomerangs upwards, and you can also attack diagonally upwards, regardless of whether you are in the air or on the ground. Down and A allows you to slide much like in the Mega Man games.
A good amount of the enemies that you'll fight through the game make return appearances from the first game, and if you've played the first game for a decent amount of time, you'll be able to recognize them as well as their attack patterns.
Stars will increase the power of your attacks. Once you get your power to full strength, it won't take as many strikes to defeat enemies. The double boomerang gives you another boomerang to throw, up to a maximum of three. The single red boomerang powers up the base power of your attack.
The hamburger will replenish a few units of your health. The white and pink battery will add energy to your energy meter. The light blue cylinder acts like a Mega Man-style energy can that refills all your health whenever you press Select, assuming you have one in your inventory.
The spinning drills, whether they are on the walls, ceilings or floor, will instantly kill you if you jump into them. Also, you'll be seeing conveyor belts on the floors along with these drills as early as Area 3. Thankfully, it is easy to tell where they will take you by looking at them. Just watch out for the ceiling turrets. When you get to what looks like a maroon-colored Lego, hold Left while on the platform to grab this. This battery replenishes your energy when it empties out, but again, this will be explained when the time comes.
Enemy generating doors can be destroyed by throwing boomerangs at them until they explode, believe it or not.
The grey doors that spit out the small bugs that jump around in Area 4 can be destroyed by your boomerangs. Also, there are blocks that you'll need to break to make progress.
In Area 5, the platforms on the tracks will only move when you're on them. They will stop when you leap off. If you need to, duck under stationary platforms to keep the platform going.
In the middle of Area 5 is a set of double doors. To enter them, stand in front of them and press Up on the D-Pad to open the door and enter the room. Here, you'll fight a mechanical dragon. You'll need to throw boomerangs at it and keep your power high as you do so, jump over the fireballs it spits out, and jump over the dragon itself when it rolls it into a ball to avoid getting rolled into. When you defeat this dragon, you'll get the Newt Suit. The Newt Suit is the power suit from the first game; it allows you to throw energy blasts that travel all the way to the end of the screen that are more powerful than your standard boomerang.
To switch between your standard form and the Newt Suit, press Up and Down on the D-Pad while paused. This will change the portrait of Nova on the HUD. The Newt Suit is dictated by the portrait of Nova in armor with the "N" in the upper-right corner. While using this or any other suit, the energy on your Energy meter will go down. While you can pick up small batteries to replenish your energy on the spot, more often than not, the maroon-colored batteries will refill your energy automatically, assuming you have at least one in your inventory. If you run out of energy without a replacement battery, you'll go back to your standard suitless form.
In Area 6, watch out for the electric sparks that travel across the wires in the background. At the top where the spikes are; jump to the left so you're on the left wall, then slide to the right to get over the gap and avoid the ceiling spikes. Take care not to get crushed between the moving floor and the ceiling, as that is an automatic loss of a life. Watch out for blocks to break to find a way to the top.
If you lose a life, you will lose a little bit of your power as well as one of your boomerangs and your red boomerang power-up, but it is easy to get back to maximum.
To destroy the purple disc-throwing cyborg in Area 7, you'll need to duck down and throw some maximum strength shots at it. This will allow you to attack while avoiding the discs being thrown at you.
To beat the boss here, switch to the Newt Suit and stay close to the boss while attacking it repeatedly, but not too close. Duck when you are close to the boss while on the ground to avoid the projectiles and the jump over the center, and watch where the projectiles go when the boss is on the platforms in the corners, as that is when the projectiles will create flame pillars that stick around for a few seconds after they hit the floor.
