Part 52

No use... we can't go any higher. So much for the almighty warship!

You kidding? No other carrier could ever get this high up! Even the Society's warships would choke and die!

Yeah, well we did just fly INTO SPACE with it.

Oh, stop bickering! We're saving the world here!

Besides... Atlas could attack at any moment!

We're out of options... I'll continue by Wanzer. Bring her up to ramming speed!


I want you to evacuate to safety.

No way! I'm staying right here.

Listen! It's too dangerous up here. If Atlas explodes, you won't have time to get clear. Head back!

What about you?

There's got to be an escape pod inside. Maybe it won't even come to that... I'll figure something out. Don't worry.

Hell, he'll just jump off the side if he needs to. He doesn't take fall damage.

Reckless to the bitter end... But this is the last time, OK? When all this is over... We'll go on vacation. Just us two. Promise?

Last time you tried to go on vacation it was Machu Picchu.

...Promise! Wish me luck.

Don't you dare die on me! I'd never forgive you...

Oh, good. I was beginning to think they had forgotten to slip that in somewhere.


Remember how the little black balls weren't very threatening? Meet the BIG ones. Let's call them the "Master Balls." They have lots of HP, do a decent amount of damage, and always come with a collection of the smaller ones. They can also spawn more. The best tactic is the use your normal weapon in conjunction with the Upward Vulcan. When they die, all the balls under their control die as well. Except... when the little ones die, they try to kamikaze you first.


You also can't run past them. And sometimes you have to fight two at once.


Or on an elevator surrounded by turrets. It's not pleasant.


All right! Head back to the Carbonera. Brenda should be waiting at the entrance.

Even though you told her to leave?

...No. I still have a debt to pay.

I know. But right now, I need you to take care of Brenda and the others. If I fail here, you're the only one who can protect them.

Because everyone else either sucks or is underleveled.

...Don't think that this clears my debt to you. You'd better come back.

I will!

Obviously, you can get a different conversation depending on who you take, but they all play out basically the same. He just has a different reason for them to stay. Except for Kagemitsu, where he realizes he's talking to a robot and says he must be hanging around Dr. Sakata too much.


Before heading up, I found some health over to the right. Always useful.


And now...we ride!


Hm. I don't feel very pumped...


No surprises here.

Genoce!

Unless you're Albert.

Don't act so surprised. We're both here for the same reason.

How'd you get past the defense system?

He ran. From everything.

Royce's pendant kept the automated defenses at bay.

Back door access... Go figure.

Oh. Alright. Don't bother elaborating or anything.

But this is as far as we can get on our own. I'm going to need your help from here on out.

Help?

Come and see for yourself.


Shit. It's the MASTER Master Ball.

The core's protected by a powerful defense system. I can take care of the shell, but... The rest is up to you.

So you suck and need me to do most of the work? Check. I've dealt with that before.

Hard to believe we had to come this far to finally work together.

Don't start getting sentimental on me. Let's go!




It's hard to tell here, but Genoce gets hit by the blast from his OWN FUCKING BOMB. It's not like it was on a short timer, either. He had plenty of time to get away. Needless to say, I bet he sucks at Bomberman.


Damn it! RUN!

Huh?

If that built-up energy goes off, we're both done for!

Uhh...

The fires of Atlas...

Allow me to introduce you to...


The last... boss? Well... it could be worse.

Form 1
It's a Square final boss. You know it has like 800 forms.


Form 1 is actually the hardest. It shoots tons of little lasers at you, and a large spark that latches on to you and does a lot of damage. The pink beam is actually me using Spark Shot. Since it "locks" onto the enemy I can damage the boss and dodge at the same time. Well, dodging everything is basically impossible, but I try. The ring of shields around the boss will block normal shots (as in Spark Shot has no problems with it) and switches between high and low positions at regular intervals.

Form 2


It turns out this form isn't very photogenic, and you really can't tell what's going on here. Well, the boss ditches all the bullets and brings out two electric tentacles that follow you around and do almost a full bar of damage if they hit. Otherwise this is the same as form 1.

Form 3


This is the easiest form. The core releases a bunch of wireless gunpods. Just stand where I am and only the shots level with you will actually hit. But since these things fire in bursts you can easily use your shield.

Form 4


What the...?


It's trying to RAM me! I guess it ran out of ideas...


First you need to shoot off the shield ring, which is now vulnerable. Then you punch a ball of energy in the face.


Well... that was... hm.


We've got to get out of here!

This way!

By the way: You really suck. What the hell was that getting hit by your own bomb? I know I've said it a bunch of times but I figure, hey, the game's nearly over. I might not get another chance.




Not so fast. We still have a score to settle.

Oh. For. The. Love. Of. Trailing off.

We don't have time for this!

Ever consider what it took to get here? How many comrades I betrayed? How many lives I ended?

You did what you had to! You want to atone? Fine! Help us rebuild what the Society destroyed!

Albert... naïve to the bitter end. For the soldier, there is no life without war.

Defend yourself!

Wait!


Waiiiit a second... these bullets don't do any damage! Is this one of those stupid scripted fights?


Hey, wait a-




Wh... what are you doing?

God, I'm sick of you. Sick of staring you in the face and seeing the broken dreams and wasted potential. The man who spent hours talking with his sister, planning a better world. Where is he now? ...I lost myself in war, Albert. Don't make the same mistake. ...Goodbye.

GENOCE!






You can stop yelling his name any time, you know. Space doesn't carry sound very well.




Welcome to screenshot central, by the way. Hey, it's the ending. I have no intention on wussing out.


Keep in mind, this next parts don't use the little faceboxes, so I'm using the ones I think are appropriate.

Albert? Albert! Come in, please! That shockwave blew your escape pod off course. Sit tight! I'm on my way!


You're right in the path of the debris! Get out of here!


...Get ready to jump.

NO! You'll get yourself blown off the carrier! Just go already!

I'm just about ready to agree with him at this point.


Damn it! My Vernier won't engage!

Albert!

That's enough! Get out of here!

Don't give up!


He's really determined to burn up in reentry, isn't he?






...

...


















I'm glad we all made it...

So long as we're all hale and hearty, eh?

Except Genoce... He shoved me into that escape pod just before Atlas went up.

...Such is Master's way.

He does this often?

Just when we were starting to understand each other...

I think it's about time we got going. We've all got a lot to do, sir.

Yeah... soldier boy's right. We've got a world to rebuild.


Felt like we'd be together forever.

Yeah.

What about you?

Haven't thought much about myself, but...

But?

...I still owe you that vacation.

You remembered!

Still, the worlds scars run deep. So I thought we could travel... bring hope to those still living in fear. Bring peace to where war still reigns. I think Genoce would've wanted it this way.

That's not much of a vacation.

Think he'll be waiting for us?

What? Where? Am I the only one who can't follow this conversation?






In unison, they turn back to long-abandoned dreams, rebuilding the with but one desire: that the mistakes of the past never be repeated...

2070. With repairs complete, Atlas is brought on-line, opening a flow of energy and resources to an impoverished world. For mankind, united at last, the door to the universe now stands open.

Atop the pillar of heaven, man prepares to step into a sea of stars...
...Safe for as long as he does not forget the true worth of his creations.

"How much did this spaceship cost to build, again?" "Uhhh..." "Oh shit a black hole!"


I don't have many credits of the names because really, but I'll show a few.


Not bad!

Good training is critical, sir. And I learnt from the very best... OK, men! Let's see you jump!


Wait a minute... Clark, what did you do with your Stinger? Why the hell are you back in that hunk of crap?


Mikhail! It's too dangerous out here!

But I'm so bored!

I know... I'm sorry!

Don't worry about it!


I can't believe they drew that just for one line in the ending.


He later died of an infected paper cut. No one attended the funeral.


It's the least I can do to atone...

This war's done a number on all of us.

What's your name?

Just call me... "Bomber".


Specifically, he's been captured.


Hidea Iwasaki Solid: Tactical Data Managing Action

No, I am not sorry for that.


I knew you would.

There's somethin' I wanna ask about...

Do whatever makes you happy, my boy!

Thanks, man!

Just keep your nose clean, you hear?


I... actually don't have a sassy comment for that. It's not very interesting.


OK!

Well, that should do it. Have fun!

Doctor Sakata! Wait!

You only told us to weld one thing! We need more than that to fix this!

Sorry! The world needs my intellect!


Kagemitsu should get his own spin-off game.


Most importantly for me, personally: NONE of these people is Noriyuki Iwadare.


C'mon! Let's get him!

...Fools.


Whoosh!


I assume he ran out of ammo and has been reduced to bashing people with his gun. Except... like a samurai!

Master... I know you're out there.

Maybe, but certainly not in one piece. That would be stupid.


Last sighted pretending he was in an anime.


Grant! Settle down!

J...just tryin' to scare 'im, right?

Stop RIGHT there, buttercup!

Albert... I know we'll meet again someday.

Uhhh... what?


She also went crazy and started spouting non-sequiters.


Producer EX!


That wacky Albert and his hijinx!

Indeed...

It's only a matter of time now!

Albert... it's been an honor.

The rest of the credits are boring but have neat pictures in the background. I turned off the background layer with the credits so I could just show the backgrounds.






And so, as the second ending rides off into the sunset, I'd like to-


Oh what the HELL?

I'm two clicks due north of the Atlas elevator now. It's a Wanzer... must have drifted ashore recently.


No, no sign of the pilot... not even a body. Where the hell'd this thing come from?

I... but... you can't be...


I am incredulous.

Other crap
The video. It's like 25 minutes but the actual boss is... not very much of it. We went through all the ending, but I at least had the good sense to speed up the credits. I mean, we had our moments, but there's only so much you can do with scrolling text that wasn't done in Super Metroid.

Google
Filefront
Vimeo

Fun fact: my headset won't play sound anymore. I recorded this by plugging in some earbuds and wearing the headset on top of them. This was painful.

Also, I posted these before, but just for the sake of having it in an actual update, here are some MP3s of my favorite tracks. And some that I just threw in for the hell of it:

A-R-K - The boss fight music for the Sleipnir.

Atlas - This music plays during the levels inside Atlas. Great name.

Escape - A time must come in every man's life when he, having destroyed a load-bearing boss, must make a quick departure from a collapsing enemy base. This is a song for those times.

Final Mission - The final boss music.

Footsteps Generic level theme. I included it for representation, really.

Genoce - It's his theme music.

Guardian - Plays towards the end of the game for a few "dramatic moments." You know the type.

Royce's Death - The sad music that plays during the fake ending.

Sneak and Attack - Generic Base level music.

Trial Zone - Credits music.

Warning Two - The regular boss music. In case you're wondering: Yes, the mini-boss music is called Warning One.

You can easily find the whole thing in SPC format if you Google it.

I have more to say, but I'm saving it for now. I'm going to make a video showing all the special weapons, compile some final thoughts and facts, and that will be it.


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Alright. Here it is. It's not too fancy but hopefully it is informative.
Weapons, both primary and special:

Google
Filefront
Vimeo

Well, it wasn't a long game, but it certainly took me longer than any LP I've done previously. Special Thanks, of course, to Glazius. A bigshot VLP duo we may not be, but It was a fun experience for me, at least. And to everyone who followed, it was nice to have you along.