Part 5: Disposal Center: Aztec Falcon
Extra Stage Thoughts
My biggest problem with this stage is how early it is. It's not an unsurmountable challenge, and there are harder ones later, but it sure as hell feels like the most difficult thing in the world when you first encounter it. The worst offender really are the spikeballs; they come seemingly from out of nowhere, sometimes insanely fast, and have way too much health. Not even a dash-slash will take them out, which should be the metal option to deal with them, but nope. Then they get dropped from fliers which also come from out of nowhere, and if you take the top path in the later option like a Sonic player, you're right fucked.
Wind, instant-kill spikes this early on, boring and shitty spike pillars...it's not something you want to encounter after the intro stage, which already did a bad job presenting the game.
They deliberately wanted to make the Zero series harder than anything before, and they kind of succeeded, but this is excessive. I've heard of multiple people who got exactly this far and then quit out of frustration, if not from the stage, but then from the boss.
A big offender is also that in most cases, you can alleviate difficulty by grinding weapon levels or Elves. Now, you don't really have many options, though. The only place to grind is the Lab, which is decent enough for all those spiders, but...I think this gives off an even worse impression. Grinding in a Mega Man game? And your Elf selection is...limited. So fuck this mission. It's a giant dick in your face keeping far too many people from getting into a series that's fantastic...it just doesn't start out like that.
Boss Comments
Attacks
- Mad Dash: Falcon zooms across the ground. If you're on the wall, he'll climb up it. Leave it, then, dash-jumping over him. If you're not, he'll probably turn around and run into you because he's a dick.
- Lightning Javelins, fired straight: Falcon extends his claw to shoot those, which will block shots. The projectiles stick to the wall for a short while. He can fire high and low shots. It's possible to dash below or jump over them, all the while shooting at him, but seriously not worth the effort. You're safe on the wall. If he's not completely in a corner, you can climb the wall high and dash-jump behind him to hit his butt while he stands there stupidly. The one opportunity to land a combo.
- Magnet pull: Falcon opens his claw, which will attract Zero. Dash away. This is just wasting your time, as your attacks get blocked by the claw. If you get caught, he'll slam you against the wall. Not fun.
- Lightning Javelins, fired downwards: From the wall, three shots fired in a spread. Will stick to the floor for a short while. Always be on the opposite side of him, then this is no problem.
- Lightning Dive (EX Skill): From the wall, Falcon jumps into the middle of the platform, smashing the ground. Two sparks on each side emanate, climbing the wall. You're safe on it (of course opposite from his initial position) until the sparks reach you, then jump over the whole affair next to him. Slash at leisure.
Holy shit is this guy an asshole. Even coming off the X games, the speed with which he moves and the sheer number of attacks he pulls made my head spin and game overed me faster than I could muster a "meep". This is a very rough introduction to how the Zero series handles bosses, and you will have to practice your first time doing this...hard. You have to learn that the wall is your best friend, that the dash-jump is more than mandatory, that stinging like a bee and fleeing like a frightened rabbit is the way to go, and you will learn it with blood, sweat and tears. Once you know what you're doing, once you can dodge what he throws at you, you can run circles around his sorry ass and it's awesome. Before that...it's frustrating. To the max. I hate this fucker. And even now, that I am far better than when I started out, he's a horrible design. Wastes your time while a completely pointless timelimit ticks down? At least two of his attacks are nothing but that. Slicing him in twine is very satisfying each time around.
Ranking High
Actually not that hard. Of course, you have to know what you're doing. Once you do, though...you're set. As the enemy and time limit are nothing to write home about, just dodge those asshole spike balls with your preferred tactic (you can watch mine, but there surely are better ones), then shut off the wind, take the lower route and tell Falcon that he can go fuck himself.
- Resistance: I don't like it at all. The foreground melody is the epitome of bland, and doesn't fit the stage in the slightest. The background beat is far better, but completely lost in the dross that you're hearing as mix. One of those typical Zero 1 tracks that I just can't stand.
- Guarder Room: This I think is really well done. Tense and creepy and sends shivers down my spine. Extremely effective.
- Crash: Remember how I liked the short loop version for the beginning of the intro cutscene, how it set the mood pretty well? Let me revise that for its other use, because as a boss theme it's just too booooriiiing. This isn't how boss battles play out in a Zero game at all. It doesn't have the slightest bit of catchy melody or pumping beat or anything. Picks up a little the more it goes on, but at that point, you're too busy dodging and slicing all over the place to notice anyway.