I Beat The Mother Brain

I beat Metroid Prime 3!

After receiving the code from the spaceship, I flew to the planet Phaaze, where I was CONSTANTLY in hypercharge Phaazon mode. This turned out to be less annoying than I thought it'd be, and aside from a retarded amount of Metroids, the planet wasn't very hard. The final boss(es) weren't really all that difficult either.

First up was Dark Samus. Now, I know from the box art of Metroid Prime 2 that Dark Samus is a big-time playa in this story, but I'll be damned if there was one mention of her in THIS game up until I had to fight her and her stupid clones. It's weird playing the third game in a series first. I had no idea, at any point in the process, what the fuck the story was, or what I was doing in the grand scheme of things. But, since it's a Metroid game, who really gives a shit? Maybe I'll read a wikipedia synopsis or something.

Anyway, Dark Samus was fairly easy. Just blast blast blast, and her clones provided me with energy fairly regularly. After that I had to fight a big thingie that looked like Mother Brain. Also not very difficult, but very fun! Finally, the brain detached from its tethers and I had to fight it as it bounced around. This was a bit harder, since by this point I had very little energy yet. It took three tries, but I finally beat the bitch. The bosses in this game, in general, were fairly easy but very fun. I think the hardest boss in the game was the very first one, the iceman who flew around.

So there you have it. The game's beaten. What's next? Well, I still have Zack & Wiki to work through, and a lot of little extra things I have to do in Super Paper Mario. I'd also like to at least TRY to get all the stars in Super Mario Galaxy. I also have to play Super Monkey Ball, which put me off a bit with its controls, but deserves another try. Whew, that's quite a bit to do, without even considering the fact that I am planning on getting Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and LEGO Star Wars soon.

Viva la Wii!!

ZZZZZap.

I got the Wii Zapper. Contrary to popular opinion, I actually think it's pretty cool. I like the way it feels in my hands, and I think it makes aiming a tad bit more precise. It's kind of a pain in the ass that you have to go through a huge process every time you want to assemble it or take it apart, but no biggie. The only real issue I have with it so far is that I find it difficult to move while aiming/strafe in Link's Crossbow Training. Not sure if the blame lies on the game or the zapper or myself. Probably myself. The Zelda game is pretty fun, and fairly challenging. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Umbrella Chronicles. A old friend and I have agreed that we're going to play that game together, sitting around passing the controller back and forth until we beat it, just like we did when we were kids. Can't wait!

In Metroid news, I decided to go look for the energy cannisters (or whatever they're called) that I'm missing before I tackle the Valhalla. I made the decision to do this with the aid of a walkthrough, and it's a damn good thing I did, because I never would have found them otherwise! I had two left to get. One of them was a long and confusing quest through the planet of Bryyo. The other, which took place on the first planet in the game was a shorter quest, but ended with a boss encounter: The Metroid Hatchling. Here's what happened. I entered the room and encountered the mighty METROID HATCHLING. As I usually do when I reach a boss, I scanned it to get some info. According to the scan, the process involved blasting its phaazon parts, and then ripping off its tentacles, or some such thing. I got out of scan mode and prepared to battle. I shot the Metroid Hatchling one time. It died. Boss fight over. What the fuck? Hey, I'm not complaining. I wanted to get this pointless fetch quest over with, and a one-shot-kill boss certainly helped.

So I have all the energy thingies now, and I returned to Valhalla. I need to find the code, get back to the Space Pirate ship, fly to the Phaazon planet and, I assume, face the final boss. Almost done! Yay!

Ridley!

Whoo! Ridley is so cool. I just beat his ass. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.

When I first started playing Metroid Prime 3 again after beating Super Mario Galaxy, it was as if my worst fears had come to life. You see, part of the reason I was so conflicted by the decision to pause my Metroid progress in favor of Mario is because I know what happens when I do shit like that. I have a long history of it. If I stop playing a game for a significant amount of time, and then try to go back to it, I find myself flustered and confused, like a lost little puppy in a chainsaw factory. I don't remember where I am or where to go or what I was supposed to do next, and this almost always leads to me turning the game off in disgust and self-loathing, and never touching it again.

And it seemed like that was happening with Metroid. Stepping back into that world, I was absolutely confounded and overwhelmed with confusion. Part of the problem was that, for some reason, I was positive that I had completely finished the Space Pirate Homeworld before I stopped playing, but the game was prompting me towards a location within the Homeworld. And when I tried to make my way to that location, I got pathetically lost. It's not a good feeling being totally lost on your way to a place that you're not even sure you're supposed to be going to anyway, and it led me to turn off the game. I was worried I'd never turn it on again.

The next day, I bit the bullet and put the game back on. This time I found my way to the location I was being prompted to - and lo and behold, it turns out I wasn't done with the Pirate Homeworld yet. Not by a long shot.

I made my way to that location, which was some kind of power generator for the shield that was covering the planet, and had to shut it down while fighting off hordes of pirates. Curse their reptilian hides. Then I met up with Admiral Something-or-other and I had to escort a crack team of demolition soldiers through a series of passageways densely populated with horrible space lizards. I was really nervous about this task, because generally I hate escort missions. I'll never forget my rage at a completely helpless Minnie Mouse when I had to escort her across ONE SINGLE FUCKING ROOM in Kingdom Hearts 2. Luckily these soldiers were a little tougher than Minnie and the task was actually fairly easy. I lost three men in the process, but hey - war is hell.

After that, I was able to reach the planet's seed, and that's where I met up with Ridley!! After battling him waaaaay earlier in the game, I sort of didn't expect to meet him again. I figured this game was downplaying his involvement by getting him out of the way quickly, but I guess I was wrong! Anyway, the battle with him was pretty shockingly easy. I did die once, but that was because I needlessly used up too much of my phaazon power trying to blast him. It turns out, that's unnecessary. He's a fairly simple boss, but really really fun. I thought I'd have more to say about him, but I guess I don't. Except this: Ridley for Brawl!

Anyways, after that I still wasn't done in the stupid Space Pirate Homeworld. I had to go find a battleship that could warp me to the Phaazon Planet or some shit. I found it, but I didn't have the code to activate it, so I was prompted to go to the Valhalla to find the code. I worked my way back to my ship, flew to the Valhalla, saved, and turned the game off.

I MUST be fairly close to the end now. Maybe by my next report, I will have this game licked. Stay tuned.

Galaxy

Wow, I realized I haven't posted a new blog entry since I got Super Mario Galaxy. And now I'm nearly done with it!

Okay, here's the deal: This is possibly the best Mario game ever made. I am a member of the minority that actually really loved Super Mario Sunshine. My time with it ranks amongst the best video-game-related experiences I've ever had, and to tell you the truth, I thought it was a huge improvement over Super Mario 64. But Galaxy motherfucking blows it out of the god damned water.

It's actually pretty astonishing how amazing Galaxy is, since it's a subtle kind of amazement. There are points when playing it where the realization suddenly strikes you that you're doing things that you've never, ever done in a video game before - crazy, fresh, brilliant new actions - and you didn't even realize it, because those actions are so intuitive and natural. Once you get over the initial bout of motion sickness (and this WILL happen when you're first running around on spherical planets), the game's input and output feels as instinctual as any other Mario game, even though the corresponding in-game actions are completely off the wall.

I'm not going to go into any more detail than that, because I've played through way too much of the game already to properly cover here. But also because these are discoveries you should make yourself. Buy this immediately, and make sure you're able to devote at least two afternoons worth of free time to it right off the bat.

So, what about Metroid? Well, I've broken my biggest Wii rule. Before I bought the Wii, looking at my library of unfinished Gamecube games, I promised myself that on the new console, I'd only start on new games when I'd beaten the previous game. I was REALLY hoping to have Metroid beat before Mario came out, but it just didn't work out that way. And, for the few days prior to Galaxy's release, I was actually considering buying it, but not even unwrapping it until Metroid was done. Of course, once I got home with the game in my hand, that was completely impossible and I dove right in. I am pretty sure I was very close to beating Metroid though (I had just finished the Pirate Homeworld), so here's the plan: "Beat" Mario Galaxy (as in defeat Bowser, which I am 7 stars away from being able to do), go back and beat Metroid, and then go back to find more stars in Mario. Oh yeah, and I gotta fit some Zack & Wiki in there too! Hah, rules were meant to be broken I suppose.

On the DS front, I've been completely ignoring Zelda. In the last update, I said that the annoying repetition of the hourglass temple hadn't gotten to me yet. Well, it's fucking gotten to me now. I really dislike that portion of the game, and at the moment, I'm right in the middle of it. I'm sure once I finish with that and get back to normal Zelda shit, I'll be giddy again, but for now it's just plain annoying. It's a clever idea, and I like that they're tweaking with the same-old-same-old Zelda formula, but I don't much care for the end result.

In lieu of Zelda, I've continued to play a lot of Picross. In fact, I "beat" the game, insomuch as one can claim to beat a game like this. It's sort of like saying you beat an issue of Games magazine. But it was a long, wonderful journey, so I'm counting this as a win and giving it an "I BEAT A GAME" tag. The last "level" of the game was a total blast, with the theme being all of Nintendo's past consoles (even including the ill-fated Virtual Boy)! Hopefully Nintendo keeps the downloadable puzzles coming, because I just can't get enough fucking Picross!

See you next time.

Zeldametrossiki

It's been a while! I've been pretty busy, but rest assured that I've been playing plenty of video games!

I'm just gonna do a quick, not-too-detailed update here, letting y'all know where I'm at in the various games I'm playing.

I've been making a lot of headway in Metroid Prime 3. I just (as in, literally five minutes ago) got to the Pirate Homeworld, which is pretty intimidating. If I come away from this game having learned only one thing about myself, it's that I fucking hate Space Pirates. I don't care if it's racist; I fucking hate all of them. They shouldn't be allowed to vote. Anyway, those of you who have played the game should realize that I just finished the Sky Town portion of the game. So in addition to being scared of the ominous Pirate Homeworld, I'm also very sad to be leaving one of the most beautiful levels of any game I've ever played. I was shocked how much I enjoyed Sky Town, because it's pretty much the antithesis of what a Metroid environment should be. It's not cavernous, claustrophoic, dark or scary. But whatever, it fucking ruled. I am guessing that I don't have very far to go in this game. My total out-my-ass guess is that I'm maybe 2/3 of the way done...? I am hoping against hope to finish this game before Super Mario Galaxy comes out in one week, because I know if I don't, I'll callously toss it aside in favor of Mario, and then god knows if I'll ever get back to it. We shall see.

In other Wii news, I purchased Zack and Wiki yesterday. I played through about 4 of the levels, and then put it aside, because I want to save it to play with my girlfriend. It's definitely the type of game that requires heads being put together. I had to force myself away from it, because it's god damn addicting, but after I finished the fourth level (out of a total sixteen), I turned it off until I can play with my gal by my side. The game is absolutely fucking brilliant. I guess I'd describe it as an amalgam of a point-and-click adventure game and an Adventures of Lolo type game. For fans of puzzles, this game is like winning the lottery. I am sort of in awe of the cleverness of it all, and I'm sure it's only gonna get better. I'm not spoiling shit, though, so make sure you get this game and check it out for yourself.

I am also currently playing a borrowed copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS. I'm enjoying the fuck out of it. Before I played, I was pretty intimidated by the notion of a stylus-only control scheme in a Zelda game. I totally ignored that option in Animal Crossing in favor of traditional d-pad controls, and I wasn't too keen on the idea of being forced to use them in my favorite video game franchise. But check this out: The controls are GREAT! For me, there wasn't even a "getting used to it" period. I just jumped right in and found them instantly intuitive and satisfying! The game itself is great too, incorporating all the best elements of Wind Waker without the really annoying ones. I have not yet formed an opinion on one of this game's main gimmicks - the Temple of the Ocean King, a temple you return to repeatedly, advancing further each time. This part of the game incorporates two of my most-hated video game mechanics: stealth, and timed levels, so I was all prepared to totally hate it. However, my first run through the temple pleasantly surprised me - I actually found myself really enjoying it. However, I am currently in my second run-through, and I'm enjoying it far, far less. Having to backtrack through the same environments a second time (solving every puzzle again, finding every switch and key and item again, etc) is really frustrating and annoying. Still, this hasn't really fucked with my enjoyment of the game (yet), so I'll reserve judgment for now.

Finally, I am still sneaking in games of Picross, mostly on the subway to and from work. I am up to the very last level of the Free Mode, and holy jesus has it gotten hard. I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty much using the Hints on every single puzzle now, and I still usually have to do them over two or three times before I complete them. Perhaps my subconscious realizes that I am almost done with the game, and it's trying to delay the process... because at this point, the thought of a train ride without a game of Picross is kind of really depressing. Hopefully Nintendo keeps the downloadable puzzles coming!

So that's about it for now. Hopefully by the next time I check in, I will have beaten Metroid, and will be waist-deep in the pure bliss that is Super Mario Galaxy.

Phazon, Phazoff

I've been getting into Metroid a bit more. Bit by bit, which is how I think the rest of the game is gonna go. But now I anticipate playing when I'm not playing, instead of thinking of it as a chore, so that's a step up. When I am actually playing, the game is incredible, and I love every minute of it. Except when I have to open doors, but more on that later.

Blogging my progress in this game is way more difficult than it was for Resident Evil 4. That game was very linear, and I could easily tell the story on my quest to get from Point A to Point B, and then to Point C, and so on. Metroid is obviously far less linear. If I were blog about my gameplay in as detailed a manner as I did with RE4, it would be like so:

Then I entered a room. I looked around. I didn't know how to get out of the room. I tried jumping to a platform. I couldn't reach it. I scanned the platform. Nothing happened. I looked around. I looked around. I looked around. I shot random things to see what would happen. I turned into a ball. I couldn't fit anywhere. I took a cigarette break. I looked around. I jumped. I cried.

...and so on. Pretty boring.

Anyway, since last time, I got the ability to freeze fire, which is pretty fun. My favorite is freezing horrific flaming waterfalls and then using them as platforms. I also met a lot of golems, who helped me in various ways. I like the golems. I destroyed the first energy signature on Bryyo, and fought a pretty cool boss. The boss was a space pirate with a giant alien beast as a mount. It was a pretty perfect boss, because defeating him was a multi-step process, but not too difficult to figure out. It also didn't take 3 hours and leave my arm a limp mess like the last boss. I killed the pirate rider, and then focused on the beast itself. I shot it in the mouth until it got stunned, then I bombed the shit out of its belly. Then I pulled its tail, which caused it to expose its belly again, at which point I shot it repeatedly. This was fun.

So next, I have to destroy the second energy signature on this planet, which is in the Thorn Jungle. I'm looking forward to it.

One thing I don't particularly care for in this game is the Phazon system. For those who don't know, this is a process by which you can temporarily give yourself massive offensive power, at the expense of a full bar of energy. Also, when you're in this powered-up state, the system can overload, eventually killing you. Perhaps I just don't have my mind wrapped around the mechanic yet, but I find it terribly frustrating to decide when to use this. The hit your energy takes is fairly large, and the power boost lasts such a short time, that I usually try to go without it, especially if there's no nearby save point. But then, I feel like I'm wasting time needlessly. And it IS an immensely satisfying rush to activate this power and see how quickly and efficiently normally tough enemies can be plowed through. Meh, I'm sure I'll learn to enjoy this ability once I learn to gauge its practicality more precisely.

Another HUGE problem in this game is load times when opening doors to new rooms. Now, I'm a pretty patient dude, and normally I don't mind load times. The problem here is that the game does not acknowledge that a period of "load time" is taking place. I guess they wanted to avoid the stigma of the "Loading..." message, but it seems pretty fucked up to me. There were times in the game where I shot a door to open it, and then it took literally a full minute to open. That's pretty unacceptable, especially in a game like Metroid, where some doors are locked and whatnot. One time, I shot a door, and it didn't open, so I assumed it was locked to me and I went around the whole level searching for another way to progress. Eventually I discovered that the door was unlocked, but that it just didn't fucking open when I shot it. It's really annoying, and I can't believe this is such an issue in a game from the year 2007. But anyway, the rest of the game is so magnificent and beautiful that this issue much easier to forgive.

See you next time.

Metravoid

So I've pretty much been actively avoiding Metroid Prime 3. Last time I played, I defeated the boss I was bitching about in my last post (which was really awesome by the way, even though my arm really hurt afterwards), and then immediately saved and quit, and I haven't been back since. I'm not sure why, because I was really, really enjoying the game. I think I just needed a break from epic video games for a little while. I'm hoping to get back into it soon.

Yesterday I took the opportunity to unlock the last character in Mario Party 8, the Hammer Bro. This took an annoyingly long ammount of time (I listened to four CDs while doing so), and was fairly boring. But, now he's fucking unlocked. Hooray!

Another thing I did yesterday was blow the dust off my copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee and play it for the first time in a couple years. I've been obsessively following the progress of Super Smash Bros. Brawl - when I wake up in the morning, the very first thing I do is check the Smash Dojo to see what the daily update is (today it was motherfucking SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!). So I figured maybe it was time I actually, yknow, PLAYED some Smash. And oh boy am I rusty. Not only at the game itself, but also at the Gamecube controller. Shit is mad old-school, yo. But it was fun to play it again, and it reminded me why I love the Smash games - not just for the Nintendo fanboy who loves seeing all the references, but also because it's such a fun game! Can't wait for Brawl!

I'm also still playing Picross on the DS. It still owns me. I'm on the Free Mode now, which is hard as a bitch. Plus I still have to do most of the classic puzzles I downloaded. I want to get The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass but I can't really afford it right now.

Anyway, hopefully my next post will be about Metroid again. See you then!

Not Ready For Prime Time?

I puchased Metroid Prime 3. Before I tell you about my experience with the game, I should first brief you on my history with the Metroid Prime series: I have very little history with the Metroid Prime series. Here's the extent of it: Long ago, I bought a used copy of the first Metroid Prime game and played it for a little while, until the game freaked out... the disc was a little scuffed up, which I had shrugged off, but now those little scratches and imperfections had prevented me from advancing. So I borrowed my friends copy of the game, figuring I could just continue with my save data and his disc, but the problem was that I also borrowed the brilliant Shadow of the Colossus at the same time, and decided to play that first. Of course I got swept away into the wonderful world of Colossus, and by the time I had finished with it (note: "finished with it" does not equal "beat the game" in this case, sadly), I had pretty much entirely forgotten about Metroid Prime. My friend's copy of the game is still sitting in my room, staring at me with its dead eyes.

But before all that happened, I had really been enjoying my experience with the Metroid game. I was really impressed at how the spirit of the classic Metroid series had been faithfully translated into this crazy first-person game. So I had been excited to enter that world again on my Wii.

The first thing I noticed about the game was that it was going to take a LOT of getting used to, control wise. I spent the first hour or so bumping into walls, spinning around, and generally having a tough time. Even at the worst of times though, I acknowledged that this was my fault, not the game's. Still, for a period of time long enough to freak me out, the experience was more frustrating than fun.

It didn't help that the very beginning of the game is extremely action-heavy. I participated in many battles with Space Pirates in wide-open arenas, with comrades fighting by my side. Not exactly the scenario you expect to encounter when you pop in a Metroid game. I want my Metroid experience to be dark, solitary, and focused more on exploration than combat.

I got my wish soon enough. Moments from when I touched down on the planet of Bryyo and began exploring, those wonderful old Metroid feelings came rushing back. I wandered around, confused and frustrated, looking for means by which to advance and finding nothing, and I loved it. Metroid!!! Somewhere along the way, I got a little bit better at the control scheme, but I don't think I've completely mastered it yet. Hopefully I will before things get too tough.

I really enjoy the game's scanning function. When I have no idea what to do or where to go, it's nice to be able to just relax a moment and scan everything in sight, searching for clues. It fits in really well with the feel of a Metroid game, and it has helped me many times.

So, I am currently in the Fire region of the Bryyo planet, and I made my way to the arena in which I am to fight the boss. Two spaceships circled around me, sending a couple of waves of Space Pirates down to fuck my shit up. I took care of them fairly easily, and then the boss emerged: My ice-themed bounty hunting colleague, who I suppose is bad now. Unfortunately, as soon as his entrance cutscene was finished, the game totally bugged out on me. The screen went black, as it normally does when transitioning from a cutscene back to real-time action, except this time it stayed black. I sat there patiently for a moment, hoping it was just an extraordinarily long load time, and then the Wii reset itself, bringing me back to the system's main menu screen. The disc channel had the default image showing, as if there were no disc in it. I clicked on it, and the Metroid 3 screen did finally load up, but I decided not to have another go at it right then.

Luckily, I saved right before the boss battle, but I'm worried. I hope that was some kind of isolated spazz-out, and not a fucked up bug that won't allow me to advance. I've read reports of people getting buggy Metroid discs, so I'm a bit worried. Oh well, at least that would be consistent with my previous Metroid Prime experiences.

Stay tuned...