Part 8: Find Shuttle: Anubis Necromancess III

Extra Stage Thoughts

The part leading up to the boss is perfectly fine, if a little tedious because of all the traps. If you were so inclined, you could jump over most of them, though, and cut your teeth just on the snakes and the vultures; they're placed in a way where you can see them ahead of time, while you're moving downwards mostly, so the screen size is not an issue. You've got multiple paths to choose from at many points, with a little bullshit Elf waiting up one of them, but eh, New Game+ is there for a reason, and it's got pleasant music.
Then you reach the boss and he's pretty damn hard, the biggest obstacle apart from Aztec Falcon in the early game, and you can't hit his weakness...just like Falcon, really. Then you realize you're less then halfway done. If you've also not gotten the Triple Rod yet, this stage is easily becoming an incredibly frustrating exercise going back, and the far more asinine vulture placement, how unfair the snake's behaviour now is and numerous things like the traps themselves, the sand funnels and you being forced on the bottom path only leads me to think that they added the escorting backwards path late in development, or just didn't think about it enough. It's quite a mess, especially the whole Triple Rod affair. I'd be willing to give them credit for spacing the traps so you can pogo jump, so why again did they put this mission before Retrieve Data in the list?
It's not like Find Shuttle is without cool ideas - it might be the first Mega Man stage yet to have you go to the left, and also the first to not have a boss door (!) which I forgot to mention. I might forget some other instances, but that definitely is something, especially after the late X games spammed boss doors everywhere in their atrocious level design. A clear sign that Inti really were ready to break from the mold, and I greatly appreciate that.
The story told in the mission is also really well done. Some Resistance members managed a grand escape, but they can't be rescued when shot down because the enemies are just far too strong. When Zero finally reaches the crash site, the enemy commander is already there, so the survivors were mere seconds away from being taken back or just executedretired on the spot, and then after killing said commander, Zero realizes that "survivors" should have been singular, and barely so. The game's love for details shows in how many sprites this guy gets - they're just for this mission. But I would have been really happy with a cutscene of Zero going "okay I cleared the way, extract us". Escorting him back might further hammer home the point that you're still fighting a ludicrously desperate struggle, but I think I got that by now, thank you very much. Ciel being so incredibly happy about a single rescued man who can barely stand is telling enough, I think.

Fuck escort missions so hard.

Boss Comments



Attacks

• Rapid Spin: Anubis throws his staff at Zero's position, where it'll spin for a while; he'll either leave the screen and come back the opposite end or float over there onscreen, either way, when he reaches his destination, the staff will come back. If you're unobstructed, it's a simple dash to get away from the initial throw, then you can hit him as he's appearing on the opposite end or while he's floating.
  
• Fidelis Caries: Necro will summon any number of one to four (maximum allowed on-screen, if experience tells me correctly) zombies up. He announces this by briefly flashing white (which gives him a short invulnerability period, and this is more annoying than you'd think) and letting his staff hover around him. It blocks bullets when in front. The zombies will grab you when you touch them, and you have to mash left and right to get free. They are somewhat sturdy, but move slowly. Dangerous when left unattended, and when he couples it with throwing his staff.
  
• Pillar Crush: After being hit four times for more than one damage (I think this is the trigger), Anus will dive below the sand and two spots, always to the side of Zero, will start to churn. Shortly after, spike-topped pillars rise from the ground, trying to crush you in-between them. Thankfully, the spikes aren't instant kill. This is repeated two to four times, depending, I think, on his health. I'm pretty sure he'll always do it four times when low, so that's annoying! To escape, you need to either dash out of the initial trap (sometimes impossible, when they come from the sides of the arena) or walljump up, then dash-jump over the opposite pillar or kick directly upward so it'll go under you. I demonstrate both methods in the video, so if you're having trouble, just try and find a method you're comfortable with.
  
• Staff Roll (EX Skill): Instead of going to Zero's position and back upwards, Mancy will throw the spinning staff directly below himself, then it'll roll along the floor to and fro before returning to him. Very annoying if zombies are still there, otherwise not really a problem to avoid. Another pretty boring EX Skill.

Anubis is a boss that's a little too binary in my opinion. Either you have no idea what you're doing and he'll obliterate you, or you know how to play him and then he's so trivially easy that you're just going through the motions. I show off those said, very specific motions in the Hard Mode video. Four slashes will make him go below the sand, taking off one-fourth of his health. After he comes up (and at the start of the fight), you're free to dashjump over to him, with a second of hesitation to let the white aura fade if he's summoning, and hit him. He'll then be ready to announce his next attack, so either slash again or wait for him to throw the staff, then arrive on the other side, upon which you can slash him again. If he summons, you're free to hit him twice and make him go down. If he throws, you can dash away, lure the staff away, then return to slash him twice while that pattern plays out. Dodge the pillars, repeat. Boring as fuck. Of course, all that strategy is meaningless once you can apply boss weaknesses, but that's a given for all of them - and not for him in the first place, because no Fire Chip this early, fuck you! Oh yeah, and charge attacks also can break up this pattern, of course.
Even when not taking the tactic I used in the Hard Mode vid to heart, he's not that bad if you know exactly how to react. As I said, he gets too easy once you know what to do, and is too hard if you don't. Really don't like fighting him, it's just such a drag.

Ranking High

I don't have much to add. Get the Triple Rod. Learn when the vultures are coming and devise a consistent strategy (I still haven't found one, fuck those assholes). That last snake pit is an incredible bitch, best leave him behind like I did and micromanage respawns. Good luck, you're going to need it. Probably the hardest mission to rank high in the game, apart from the very last (which is a given).

• Scorching Desert: _{Like most of Zero 1's tracks, it's not a particularily exciting track and somewhat repetitive, but I think it fits the mood in the desert really well for a change, so I do like it. Really love a single moment when the track breaks down (example at 2:27), and am quite sad that there's exactly one time per loop when it gets exciting like that.}