Part 38: Not Enough Space

Time to do some spelunking. Again. Brain's spent a lot of time in cave-like areas over the course of the game, hasn't he? That or high tech facilities. Or high tech facilities in caves.



Turns out the light was the princess of Choco, who is a descendant of the slow-speaking Cookie. She talks even slower, which is as delightful as you might figure. Even her attendant comments on it. Anyway, apparently the Hackers are attacking their homeworld and need the help of our mousey hero.



So they give him a spaceship.



And Father gives Brain the MacGuffins, which have somehow split apart again since the events in the Tower and the dream-past. With them, our hero is supposed to be able to help the Choco people deal with the Hacker problem. So, it's in our best interest to head right there.



But first, as always, there's something else to check out. In this case, a hidden planet. It's a bit iffy to find, but it's a yellow star next to another yellow star. Doesn't sound like a lot to go by, by the space map is surprisingly small.



Kirara is the library planet, where you can find all the Inventor's Friends books. If any book was missed along the way, it can be picked up here, save for the key item books.



Like this Repair book Brain neglected to read in his own house, along with the Sword 2 and Punch 2 books from back in the Volcano Hideout. Unfortunately, Kirara doesn't stock texts on the key items, so he'll never be able to make the Chameleon Glasses. He got a free pair, though, so he's fine.







You can even find the books that haven't been shown yet - these are found on Choco, for example. The last one teaches Bomb 4, by and by.







In addition, there are three books here on Kirara that are found nowhere else in the game. They contain the schematics for Laser 3, the Solar Pack, and Blade 4 respectively. However, Pinky has the latter two already, and trying to pick up these books would require grinding of the highest caliber. So, Brain won't be learning them. Nice to know they're here, though.



With that last little secret shown off, it's time to hit up Choco.



Fun fact: While talking to the princess and consul result in plot, they can be skipped entirely by talking to the science guy. He takes the MacGuffins as well as Napoleon's scrap. This totally won't be relevant in the future.



He and the princess head to the lab, where our hero can pick up a free Scrap 7. In addition, the three books seen on Kirara can be found in the bookshelves in this room. Also, Gateau is here for some reason.



And he's helping recreate the Master MacGuffin out of its component parts.



But it's okay because he's a great engineer and he has amnesia. This won't come up later either.



The shop here sells Scraps 9 and 10, which would be handy if Pinky didn't have everything he needed. Those using more than one robot would probably be much more excited, since all the top gear can now be crafted, save for more Blade 4s. Or, if money isn't an issue, they can probably all just be created straight up from schematics.



Bringing up the fact that having Gateau around might be A Problem to Consul results in him brushing the fact off. Also, apparently the princess digs him.



To pay for their stupidity, Gateau steals both the MacGuffins and the princess. Turns out he's the leader of the Hackers now that Rose is gone. Try and contain your surprise at this unforeseen turn of events.



Figuring out how to save the princess involves the highly scientific method of drawing straws. Brain will get the Red Straw no matter which you choose, much like getting the Scrap 1 back in the Cave near the beginning of the game. On the plus side, the Consul gives our hero 5000G for his trouble and opens up the locked door back in the Lab.



Which has ANOTHER 5000G squirreled away in it, along with a Bomb 4 and Scrap 10. Brain doesn't need any of it, but it's nice to have.





Heading back out to the entrance results in plot. Brain and a bunch of Choco people load up on a ship to assault the Space Fortress. They get shot down in short order.





Which results in our hero being rescued by Kotetsu in HIS ship, and then sneaking into the Space Fortress instead. All this really does is explain why Kotetsu and Mint - who snuck aboard the ship somehow - are on the Space Fortress. Mint's as useless as ever, but Kotetsu actually is helpful.



Welcome to the Space Fortress, the most dangerous place in the game for this run. Robotrek is done being nice and expects you to have the best gear by now - so everything hits very hard to counteract that fact. Saving frequently is highly recommended during your stay. Not doing so can result in a lot of retreaded ground. This is spoken from experience.

Also, the Big Fans are never seen again. All the generic Hacker enemies our hero will come across are the beret-wearing ones from back in the Tower. Which is a bit of a blessing, since getting them is much better than some of the other baddies that could be tagging along.



Kotetsu manages to fast-talk the Hackers into believing he hired on a mouse as his protege. He must have a ton of ranks in Bluff. Also, yes, conveyor belts and switches are back. However, the rooms that have them are few and far between.





The main conveyor path leads straight to where our hero wants to go, but detouring results in loot.





Apparently the PA doesn't deign to tell the mooks that the intruder is a mouse, so they run off. Heading up the stairs leads deeper into the facility, but Brain is going to detour south a bit first. There's been no enemies up to this point, but that quickly changes.



First horrendously terrible enemy to come across: Pixies. White and Gold join Red in the killer cacophony of color. While Red can Confuse, the other two just hit REALLY HARD. Whitepixies can hit Pinky for over half his health in one shot, and both new types frequently hit for a quarter of his health. Killing them fast is a priority - and they can randomly shield a hit, so the RNG hating you can result in a death in a one-robot run. And they only take a point or two points of damage from run commands and Blade 4.

Welcome to the Space Fortress.





On the plus side, everything here, save the beret Hackers, gives oodles of experience. Which is good, because Pinky is going to need a lot of HP from here on out. More health means more of a chance for Pinky to survive against encounters against enemies like the Pixies.



The detour ends in a Scrap. The way back is blocked by a locked door, so our hero has to loop around again through the conveyor belt room to get back to the staircase. Fortunately, the game throws a bunch of less deadly enemies at our hero for the next couple rooms.



Passing another locked door leads to his room, which has an outdated shield.



And Kotetsu posing as a Hacker again. He presents the gimmick for this area - minus the whole "full of things that will murder you" aspect - the locked doors are colored, and require a password to open them. Kotetsu here has the red password, which he passes on to our hero. The way to go is back to the previous door, which is appropriately red.



Heading left, however, gives a preview of some other new enemies. Gagarians are actually pretty nice - they lack Run resistance and give almost three whole Megs apiece. Getting a group of three can result in almost 10 Megs with Bonus Time. They are the recommended farming enemy for getting levels.

Ninjas, however, are right bastards. They're horrendously speedy and evasive, possess Pixy-level Run resistance, and the way they attack is downright dangerous. They attack in a manner not unlike the old XRR Run command - they jump to the other side of their enemy and hit them. This often means a back attack that will tear your robot a new one. Having to deal with more than one will most likely result in a scrapped robot, so escape is suggested.





If Pixies and Ninjas weren't enough, there's improved versions of Knights just beyond the red door. Their high Run resist, guarding, and knock-back make taking them out a chore. In addition, their crossbows now have a chance to confuse. Getting them in numbers or with Pixies quickly degrades to hoping the RNG doesn't have them guard so that your robot can kill them before it gets scrapped. If you haven't figured it out yet, this is a running theme for the Space Fortress.





Beyond is a switch guarded by a generic Hacker mook. Killing him frees the Princess, who leads our hero through the nearby door. However, it's actually Gateau in disguise, and he gloats before dropping Brain down to the Space Fortress basement.



If you're doing a one-robot run, slap a shield on your robot and put on your Chameleon Glasses once you arrive in this level that looks vaguely reminiscent of something out of Space Mutiny. The next room has Ninjas, who are like the Maskers and Berets in that they are invisible on the map. Avoiding them is recommended due to the likelihood of coming across two or three of them - an almost assured game over.

However, Brain is a mouse and cannot use the shades right now. This results in a lot of blindly running forward and hoping to not run into a Ninja. Having a shield helps mitigate the damage that occurs when the inevitable happens, though.





The fact there's Ninjas about doesn't keep him from nabbing loot, though. The Scrap 6 is in a side passage to the left, which also includes an R&D room. Handy if our hero needs to craft anything - like Cures - or just to use the Maintenance option to get a free heal before ducking back into the Ninja room.





Or wrapping up a level. More health is still the name of the game.





Mint's purpose in being in the Space Fortress is revealed when she does a repeat performance from the Old House - being harassed by mice. Talking to the mice and then her gets her to move her ass out of the way so our hero can access the vent.





Which leads to the button needed to start up the elevator back at the entrance to the basement level. Mint jumps in and disappears to get ready to be a problem again later. There's four floors to choose from on the elevator, and the first two are the basement and the side room up where our hero got a preview of the enemies down here. So, heading up to the third floor gets Brain to where he needs to go next.

There's still quite a ways to go, but that's understandable for the final area of the game. It should be noted that I've gotten more Game Overs here than in the rest of the game combined.

Next Time: Domo Ari-Gateau, Mr. Roboto