deKay's Lofi Gaming

Metroid Fusion: EXPLODED!

Hurrah! The SA-X was killified on my fifth or so go. It seems there’s an easy way to kill it, if you jump over it and shoot it in the back. Then I had to run to my ship, which had vanished – to be replaced with a [spoiler]! Then [spoiler] happened, and it was the end!

Metroid Fusion

After being stuck for a bit unable to figure out where the heck I was supposed to be going, I finally stumbled across the security robot I fought earlier. Only this time, he had rockets and could electrify the water he was wading around in. For some reason, though, he was easier to kill. I got the Wave Beam from him, so I can now shoot through walls. I then went into the Restricted Area the robot was trying to …

Metroid Fusion

It took many, many attempts, and lots of dying very quickly, but I finally figured out the way to dodge Nightmare in his second “phase”. Well, I’d figured it out already, it was just because my Space Jump skillz were not ub3r1337 that I couldn’t put them into place. Some of it was also down to luck – namely, where he stopped. In certain places it meant I could fire off a million rockets into his face, in others only …

Metroid Fusion

Managed to outrun the SA-X this time. I didn’t realise you could shoot it with ice missiles to freeze it. I didn’t have a lot of energy left afterwards, so had to limp my way to a save point. The SA-X can kill you in two hits, even if you have some 600 units of health. Nasty. After that, I found the cause of the vegetation growth – another boss. This one was pretty wasy, but took some 753265 missiles …

Metroid Fusion

It took another three attempts, but Mr Spider is teh dead. WIN. Well, WIN for a bit, since there’s more of the game left. He did give me the Space Jump, however, which was nice. Not that I can control it properly, of course. Wandered around a bit looking for the “cause of the vegetation” that is blocking up the main power silo of the research lab. Found an entrance to somewhere, but the SA-X was lurking in there too …

Metroid Fusion

Jumpy shooty killy explodey fun later (including another run-in and escape-from the SA-X Evil Me), and I make it back to my ship. There I’m told that the power is down everywhere, and I need to find the cause. Some maze navigation ensues, and I kill some X-Space Pirate thingies, and run into a giant spider. Who kills me in about three hits. Boo.

Metroid Fusion

Still plugging my way through this. Started and got through Sector 3, killed a security robot, and then had to move onto Sector 6. Picked up the Varia suit from the boss at the end, which means I can now go in ice and fire areas. One of which was Sector 5, which was next. “Completed” Sector 5, and an alarm went off – I had to rush back to Sector 3 and run through it all to a room …

Metroid Fusion

It looks like I spoke to soon about always having your hand held as to what to do next, since I spent a merry half an hour stuck. Finally found a route through Sector 2, and killed the eyeball boss thing. Then moved on to Sector 4, which was somewhat simpler to get around. Killed the boss there too – Sector 3 next, it seems. I have the super jump, ball jump, and power boost now too.

Metroid Fusion

OK, so it’s more linear than Zero Mission. In a way, that’s actually a good thing. I did spend a fair amount of Zero wondering where the hell I was supposed to go next, so actually being told this time around is a good thing. Probably. I’ve done the bit at the beginning, and found and fixed the five atmospheric controller thingies, and then got into Area 2. I have the Charge Beam, Morph Ball and Power Bomb so far, …

Metroid Fusion

I completed Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA some time before Christmas, and although this is considered to be not as good, I’ve just had a quick go and it seems to be more of the same. I don’t have any weapon power-ups or anything yet though, so things may change then. The graphics and sound are near identical too.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Switch): COMPLETED!

Konami changed things in the Metroidvania formula for Order of Ecclesia in a number of ways. Firstly, you play solo as An Actual Woman, a rare thing in Castlevania games. Shanoa is part of an organisation tasked with protecting the world from the possible resurgence of Dracula in a time in history when the Belmonts seem to have disappeared. Spoiler: the organisation actually wants to resurrect Dracula. Secondly, there’s a world map with many discrete, and mostly small levels. Like …

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Switch): COMPLETED!

Fun fact: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on the DS was my first Metroidvania type Castlevania game. Yes, I played the Holy GBA Trilogy a couple of years after this, and it’s 19 years since I first played Dawn of Sorrow. I’d not even had this diary going for that long at the time. Somehow, I still remembered a lot of the game. Most of the bosses, how to reach certain areas, and certainly the plot were all there in my …

Densetsu no Stafi 3 (Switch): COMPLETED!

Yes, it’s more of more of the same. Same baddies (mostly), same skills (that again need re-learning), same silly characters to interact with. But! Densetsu no Stafi 3 adds something new – a second, female, starfish. If my Japanese is correct, she’s Stafi’s sister Stapi. At various times in the game you swap between the two starfish, sometimes at will, other times it is forced due to Events That Happen. Although similar, they have a couple of different skills. Notably, …

Densetsu no Stafi (Switch): COMPLETED!

When I bought the original Game Boy Advance, imported from Japan, I ended importing a lot of Japanese games too. At the time it was usually cheaper, and there were some really weird looking games that I wanted to play. For a few years, I often saw the three GBA Stafi games for sale on the likes of Lik Sang (RIP) and Play Asia, but never cheap enough to buy. Eventually the DS came out and the 4th game in …

Animal Well (PS5): COMPLETED!

What if Jet Set Willy was a Metroidvania and it was a still all pixels but all the pixels had thousands of colours and there was amazing light and shadow effects and you got special toys that gave you new skills and it was all creepy and weird and there were ghosts and rooms in total darkness and there were puzzles and switches and you could warp around the map by climbing into the mouths of animals? Animal Well. Well, …