Part 8: Bright Man
Normal:
Buster: I have half a mind of doing this myself as "race tutorial" for people who still have trouble with the stage. Anyone even reading these posts who is interested in such a thing?
Stage Comments:
Goddamn it, this stage. Lots of people will start with it in the race, and never progress because it loves to kick you in the nuts. It's a perfect beginner's trap, with at least three completely unforgiving segments and a ridiculously evil boss.
Let's begin at the start. The light/dark gimmick is a good idea, but completely underutilized; at first, it's there to introduce you to the idea that shooting the light bulb flies will turn the lights off, shooting the firework producers will turn them on again; as soon as this is established, there comes a bulb guy that, if shot, will make the next jump almost impossible to make. Erm thanks? Thankfully, by going back you can make him respawn and the stage light up again, because trying to jump by rememberance of where the ledge ends is suicide...because the jump is one of those very tight ones I've dubbed "asshole jumps". Clearing it in the dark...forget it, if you don't have lots of experience. Even if you avoid turning off the lights, the jump is hard, especially if you don't know about edging forward; and contrary to most similar jumps, you can't cheese it with Rush Coil. Even if you manage to do it, though, rushing just a bit will result in getting smacked right in the face by the most evil dumbly rushing forward enemy ever, resulting in another death. The small green guy is placed exactly in a way that will make him respawn if you make the mistake of going back a bit to give Mega "more momentum" for the jump, something I did when I first played and something many people must have done back in the day, too; it does feel easier to clear a jump with more runway, though it's completely wrong for a Mega Man game and punishes you by death in this stage.
It's the single worst jump in the whole game if you don't know like three tricks at once to defuse it. Fuck that part. And the stage has just started.
Personally, I don't mind the grasshopper sections too much; thing is just, that's another wasted opportunity. They never do anything but hop forward, and there are no obstacles but the totem poles. Meaning that once you've mastered one section, you've mastered them all, and it just becomes boring. I show off the trick for the poles: Charged initial shot, then spam, don't even need to be a master at button mashing. Changing hoppers shouldn't be too big of a problem, though I know that people have trouble with the section; keep your cool, guys - getting hit off a hopper is no big deal. Just slide forward, jump into the pole to get hit again, you should be able to reach safe ground while invincible. Usually. It's fair in that regard, which is why I don't hate it.
A few generic screens follow, then the second optional detour after Skull Man's stage. It serves as the introduction to the moving platforms of death that will make you curse later, but if you happen to skip it, you'll be thrown into cold water in the last section; not fun in the slightest. The respawn point, which I forgot to mention, is in fact right above the ladder, so it's definitely designed with a sacrifice in mind; get the E-Tank, and use the extra life to respawn at the split in paths. Not very elegant, but at least they did put the life there. Still don't know why they couldn't have made the pits a bit more jumpable. Green platforms only, thinking about it, wouldn't work; the leftmost ones would stop moving once you go offscreen.
More generic screens (counting the second grasshopper part because it's, as said, more of what we've already seen) later we enter the fuck you gauntlet. Except for the very first and last fliers, every enemy is simply a distraction, and if you're quick (which you should be), the first one is, too. They won't ever hit you unless you're doing it wrong, which would result in a death anyway, so it's nothing but a blatant trap for nervous people, like those who play the stage the first few times. Don't try to shoot anything, just. Keep. Moving. And by God should you learn the timing on those platforms, because jumping off a the wrong moment, hitting the corner sloppily or many other small mistakes will kill you, no questions asked, and you'll respawn waaay back at the split in paths. It's really bad; a perfect example of the frustration "one mistake = death" setups can cause, because mistakes are easy to make and the backtracking is tedious as all hell with the grasshoppers in between.
In closing, this is, to me at least, the most frustrating stage in the whole game, it looks hideous and has bad music. There's nothing redeeming about it at all. It's not a complete design atrocity like Heat Man's was, MM4 is generally too polished to allow itself mistakes like that, it's just tremendously unfun to play to me.
Boss Strategy:
God damn it, is Bright Man an asshole. He has three attacks: Jumping at Mega - really at him, mind, which not many Robot Master actually do - shooting at three different angles as often as he pleases, and the most unfair boss attack in a long while, the Flash Stopper.
First two attacks are selected at random, the first one should be obvious to dodge, the second one requires short, controlled hops at the right moment - something I'm quite bad at, examples shown in the video.
Flash Stopper is never random; it's pulled out when he loses exactly 12, 20 and finally 24 units of health. Yeah, that coincides with two, four etc. charged shots, making it so that if you only use those (a valid strategy against...pretty much every other boss including Toad Man if you can manage the timing), he'll hit you the maximum number of times. Evading his shots after he stops you is a matter of jumping exactly at the right moment as soon as you see his short animation; evading his jump...is impossible. Period. And he deals insane damage by smacking his fat ass in Mega's face. Fuck him for it, that's nowhere near fair.
You can turn him into a pansy by never hitting the described life totals, but that's something you'll only find out after lots of analysis...or you'll just think you "got lucky" when he only uses it once or even never. It's the epitome of shitty boss design in MM4: Know the obscure trick or die. No middle ground, few exceptions and I hate it.
Enemies:
100 Watton: It moves in from the right, lets loose a cartridge upwards upon reaching Mega, which will fall down and explode into a spread of six bullets if it hits the ground; hit detection is a bit shaky, though. They are decently dangerous, but the biggest problem comes from the stage becoming pitch-black if you kill one.
Dompan: The continously move forward. Nothing else except that they turn lights back on if you happened to shoot a Watton before.
Battan: Friendly grasshoppers. Still the subject of many curses, I reckon.
Gachappon: We know those. As usual, this one's presence is more of an afterthought.
Minoan: Hang from the ceiling until Mega comes close, then spin along the ground. Mildly dangerous, but fall quickly to most weapons.
Totem Polen This one takes a while to shoot and will telegraph it ages before. Would be harmless, if not for their placement. They can also jump if you try to be cute with the balloon. Not too much health, fortunately.Music:
- Bright Man - It's shit. I know there's someone out there who loves it and will give me crap for it, but gah, I have to hate it by association alone.