Part 25: Interdimensional Journey of an Overpowered Superhero
Alright. Let's power through the postga-
God damn it.
There are a couple new viruses here.
This one, the Goopy, is actually an upgrade to a previously available virus type I just never ran into. They squash themselves flat to become immune to damage while they move, and release a shower of goop on MegaMan's panel when they attack. They drop Sticky Rain cards, which release a similar rain shower over all enemies on the field. Sticky Rain is crazy good, and if I weren't married to my stunlock folder they'd already be in my folder.
Squiggles are interesting. They'll only move if MegaMan lines up with them, and once they move three times (or idle long enough), they'll jump to MegaMan's column and release a tornado.
Thing is, what their tornado does depends on what panel they're on. Because of this they always show up on fields rich in panel variety.
Squiggles drop Storm cards, which only work if the appropriate panel type is on the field. All of the panels will be used up once the card is activated, and enemies on the field will be hit the number of panels there were.
This synergies very well with the various buster mod abilities. If I weren't so married to paralysis chains, I'd probably grind out a Storm folder. They're pretty fun.
Alternate Echo Ridge's exit is directly across the entrance. Entering it,
takes me to the Alternate Realm's hub. You may recognize the background as a palette swap of the Sky Wave's.
Wanna see a magic trick?
Nothing up my sleeve...
BAM DARK PHANTOM IF.
It's quite a shame... There's no room for the two of you in my script... Everything is going according to our plan!The theatre references point to him still being Hyde, but everything else he says implies otherwise. I'm confused why the writers did this when they were just fine having the final scenario's recycled bosses be blatantly different from the originals.
We ain't got time for a small fry like you. We want Apollo Flame! Heh, heh, heh... My, you're a pushy one...
The time has come for the extermination of you and your entire world.
...! Heh, heh, heh... Without any humans around, I've been looking for something to do. How generous of you to bring me the key to opening dimensions.I still don't get how he reached across dimensions to get the key that lets you reach across dimensions.
Grr... Hmph! Heh, heh, heh... You're one crazy hero! You changed the future into one of destruction!
SF2.png.
Hey, kid! Shut him up so we can go find Apollo Flame! Now, now... The audience shouldn't try to step on stage. The star of the play is always the strongest!
Yes.
Yes I do.
Heh, heh... Hah-hah-hah! Even if you defeat me, your future won't change! The great Apollo Flame will awaken shortly!Dark Phantom IF snickers that the warp he's been standing in front of leads directly to Apollo Flame.
But unfortunately it has been sealed off by the seven warriors.
For a guy who's blowing up, you're awfully calm.
Of course, don't expect them to just roll over for you... Heh, heh, heh... A new tale has begun!
This is SF2. There is no joy, only disappointment.
With one final laugh, Dark Phantom IF finally explodes.
I know! Let's go!And Geo and Mega don't give a rat's ass about anything he said.
Around the area are various warps to different parts of the Alternate Realm,
as well as gates hiding
Also around is this jackass. He sells rare goods.
For ludicrous prices. I'd need over 130,000 Z to buy out just the cards, forget the HP Memories.
The only other ways I could get some of these are to either pray I get lucky at the card traders (astronomically unlikely), or to trade with another game. I picked the latter for my sanity.
But since I can't trade over Giga cards, I still need to grind up 50,000 Z for this.
For perspective, this is how much I get for S ranking a random encounter here. Just 86 encounters to go.
The worst part is that I'll probably fight 86 encounters by the end of this.
Alright, let the interdimensional journey begin.
are you fucking kidding me
Oh well, at least it's two more new viruses.
Boms meander around for a bit before spazzing out and suicide bombing. Fire element attacks will instantly kill them, as well as trigger a 3x3 explosion. Boms drop Kilobomb cards, which have MegaMan throw a bomb forward. If it doesn't land on anything, it'll act as an obstacle that'll detonate for major damage if lit by a Fire attack.
As for Shock Tuts, they attack by shoving a hand up MegaMan's panel. They drop Mummy Hands, an excruciatingly slow yet nonetheless useful attack that paralyzes everything standing next to MegaMan.
Let the roadtrip begin. Alternate Wilshire Hills is just as big as the normal version, and the boss is at the opposite side of it.
And as if the game hadn't pissed me off enough, this random Hertz hands me Solo's wallpaper.
At least this (and 10,000 Z) is here too. Just one to go before I have the complete set of ten!
By the way, despite being "completely broken" this thing still has EM waves running through it. In fact, underneath the black-and-white filter, Wilshire Hills is just as animated as ever.
Harp Note IF is the zone boss.
I'm here to stop the return of Apollo Flame. So you're gonna let us open up that warp hole!And our heroes don't seem to care, which is odd after Taurus Fire IF.
...Is that so? I'm Harp Note IF! And I call the shots around here! If you think I'm going to let you make the rules, you've got another thing coming! Prepare to be deleted!
Gyah...! You're the EM body Dark Phantom was talking about? Heh! The great Apollo will soon awaken! I will enjoy watching you struggle in vain!Harp Note blows up.
Gotta hurry! I know!
With the seal gone,
now I need to walk back to the entrance.
Alright, what next?
...Oh.
Twenty minutes of frustration later, I reach the boss. Most of the IF dialogue is pretty similar to Harp Note's, so I'm just going to skip to the battle.
A lot of people say Cancer Bubble IF is a ridiculous step up from the SP version, and for that matter one of the toughest IF bosses.
I've never had any trouble with him. Probably because my folder's stuffed with Elec cards.
Huh. Well that was pointless.
There's really not much I can say about these maps, beyond endless virus encounters.
The bosses aren't all that interesting either.
The only exception is Gemini Spark IF.
Also I'll man up and admit it: Alternate Whazzup Lines is where I broke down and hacked the encounter rate to zero. Because fuck the encounter rate.
Also also, if any of you were wondering, no the designers did not bother to edit the maps to at least block off the exits. They just inexplicably go nowhere now.
I'm MegaMan, and I came here to put out Apollo's flame. We're gonna put the smackdown on you and open up that warp hole!
...Krgh, krgh, krgh! Fat chance!
...Leave, or I'll be forced to delete you.Gemini Spark is strange in that his personalities haven't really changed.
Let's just delete 'em and get this over with! I said leave! We've got business with Apollo! ...... We're Gemini Spark IF! And we run things around here! Go away!
On Normal, the separate Geminis only have 1800 HP, making them the only bosses to not at least break 2000. But then, you have to beat them both so they may as well.
Dragon Sky GX still tears them a new one.
Kyahhh! ...... Yi-arrrgh!
I really don't understand why the writers tried to throw in some moral ambiguity here and here alone. If you're going to be fine with Geo ruthlessly murdering duplicates of his friends, you really shouldn't call it all into question by having one of the doppelgangers not be an asshole.
Don't worry, that's not Pat. Anyway, we can't think about that now!
Having no random encounters makes traversing the Alternate Realm much more expedient. And the whole game for that matter.
Anyways, this guy. He'll stonewall me unless I input a specific Wave Command card.
He is kind of a dick about it if I mess up.
He changes his inventory depending on what card I put in (this one is Platinum, "the card that's a cut above the rest"). He only sells Star cards, so thankfully skipping him won't hurt me.
Since Dark Phantom IF already died, Queen Ophiuca is up here instead. Why they even chose to go with IFL Tower 2 instead of the much smaller movie theatre? Because the designers hate fun I guess.
For a guy who I've been trying to kill, Apollo Flame has been a huge help killing everything.
Alternate Messie's Cove is still full of sheep. Don't ask me why they're monochrome too; maybe they're just really bummed about the world being destroyed?
That'd be kind of hard, it's practically a straight line here.
On Hard, Plesio's bite attack is impossible to dodge. There goes my no hit streak.
Oh well, he's still an Aqua element. And that means 80% of my folder hits for double damage.
Terra Condor IF guards the final seal.
He is very susceptible to getting his shit wrecked with Leo Kingdom GX.
That wretched Link Power...While exploding, Terra Condor can't believe he lost to Link Power. Don't ask me why he's the only boss to even mention that, he just is.
Before I advance to the next area, let me show off Trans Dimension 1's final dick move:
There's an invisible passage here.
And it's a really long one, going from the bottom of the area to the top.
At the end is more junk.
But aha, there's another secret passage!
That goes nowhere. All it does is take me to a spot where I can just barely see the exit.
There's another secret passage here. This one won't take me to that exit either,
but it does lead me to something even better. Quick Gauge practically doubles the speed of my Custom Gauge. It's totally worth the 500 LP cost.
Alright, on to Apollo Fla-
-aaame who the hell are you?
General Auriga is a completely random boss who doesn't even deserve to have his dialogue transcribed. He claims he leads the Knights General (whatever that is), and like all the other bosses he won't let MegaMan get to Apollo Flame.
Watch the fight. Or just skip it, I won't blame you.
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As out of nowhere as he is, the General is an interesting challenge.
(180, Breaking)His gimmick is that he constantly summons little soldiers to aid him. This attack has him slowly march down the field, and the only way to dodge is to blow up a soldier to create an opening to dodge.
Or just paralyze him.
(180, Breaking)The General can also randomly summon waves of colored soldiers to bumrush MegaMan. Tribe King's charge shot can clear them out easily enough, but sidestepping also works. This attack is incredibly annoying on Hard, where Auriga will attack during the soldier rush.
Alternatively, paralyze him.
(220, Breaking)Auriga's not helpless on his own; at any moment he might rev up and try a body slam. Dodging can be tough considering the speed he goes at.
Unless you paralyze him.
(If you actually get hit by this, shame on you)Finally, the General can summon a massive steamroller and some peons to defend it. If MegaMan can't destroy the gem in the middle fast enough, the steamroller will smack into him for some ridiculous damage.
You know, if it weren't for the fact that I could paralyze him.
As you've probably realized by now, General Auriga is very subsceptible to being paralyzed. A well-aimed shock can interrupt any of his attacks and leave him totally exposed for a follow-up. And while this is also true for any boss (besides Terra Condor), General Auriga is particularly bad about it since by the time I reach him I can nab Quick Gauge.
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Auriga warns that there are still many more trials to come.
And then he... basically declares that MegaMan will win? Okay.
By the way, you can just barely see that dead end secret passage from earlier here. I'm not sure what the point of it is if it didn't even let me see General Auriga ahead of time.
Alright, Trans Dimension 2. What horrors await me here?
Achievements, that's what. Scattered across the area are numerous gates that will only open if I've accomplished X things.
At the entrance, the only ones I can get are:
have six real world Brothers (thanks guys),
and defeat all SP bosses in under ten seconds. Technically I shouldn't have this yet, but my Brothers' records count for me.
Auto Lock-on sounds cool, but it's just not worth the cost. And with my folder, I don't need to worry about enemies moving out of Mega Attack range anyways.
Also there are more bosses because why not.
Another Wood boss, another death by giant space lion.
Just past Kung Foo Kid IF is this. I've already talked about how great Super Armor is, but normally it's prohibitively expensive LP-wise. Good thing I have my Wave Command! And Fire Saurian, I guess.
This door won't open unless I have at least 100 different kinds of Standard cards. I do.
Hey, remember my money issues?
Nonexistent now.
This is my prize for having more than 1000 LP.
And this confusingly worded task wants me to fight 50 Link Battles. The prize is a completely useless White Meteor.
Fuck this gate. All that's behind it is a Giga Mine *3 too, nothing worth sacrificing all of my BBs.
Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before.
I sense a great power within you... Is this... the OOPArt? Why do you possess it? You are dangerous. I must eliminate you!Hollow IF is yet another boss who breaks the usual IF dialogue trend for seemingly no purpose.
Also his mere existence raises all sorts of questions, since there's really no way he'd live without Vega, but ~alternate dimension~. Don't think about it.
Hollow IF is actually kind of tough. If he nicks you at all with his super faster lightning beam, his viruses will capitalize on the paralysis to ream MegaMan.
Agaaaagh! Thge OOPArt's power is too much... Outta the way! You are too late... The great Apollo Flame awakens now...Overjoyed he's done his duty, Hollow laughs to the very end. Geo's getting scared now, but Mega reassures him they'll make it in time.
Alright, just gotta make it past this gate. What do I need to do?
Oh.
I don't suppose Apollo Flame would be willing to wait?
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Concept art of General Auriga. His color scheme used to be much simpler.