Dear Readers,
Now it's time for the boss of the last world! It won't be the end of the game of course, as my save file is still 51% complete and there are other levels here to do too.
On the map this level looks very dramatic and has a big Saturn-like planet in the background with sinister looking lighting.
A long weird corridor that lead to an elevator was up ahead and another door opened up at the top. I met Susie inside this place with red plush carpet. She said it was the head office and the heart of the company. She said we "natives" need to be taught manners for barging in like it was my own living room. She introduced a new version of a robot I fought earlier, the Mecha Knight+. She immediately unleashed it on me.
The battle was very much like a Meta Knight battle and the music was a version of the battle from the end of Revenge Of Meta Knight as well, only this time in a head office with a big desk in the background.
It had the standard Meta Knight patterns from previous games but then after a while it grew this big claw which had some nasty attack patterns, one of which whirled me all over the place before throwing me against the screen! I eventually whittled it down to destruction. It was actually Meta Knight himself underneath, his face exposed briefly before he covered himself and escaped. Nice to see some things don't change :)
Susie appeared again and got angry. She was about to launch another attack when she was interrupted by someone behind the desk. It was President Haltmann! He emerged in his levitating chair and introduced himself. It was indeed his face all over the art gallery on the first level of this area. He dismissed Susie and introduced me to the mother computer, Star Dream. He then got into a big machine and said in a very CEO way that I was terminated. Boss fight time again!
He was very much like Dr. Robotnik! Right down to the 2.5D boss fights of the Sonic DS games. His first quarter of health form involved sending copies of Susie to whirl around and attack me. Then with his second quarter of health form he came after me himself and dropped these rubies down among other attacks. Then, with his third quarter of health form he started hopping around the place and shooting banknotes everywhere while laughing maniacally. Some of them even clouded the screen a bit! With the last quarter of health he brought up a big cube in the middle of the platform and made four of its sides shoot huge lasers. I was able to avoid them by standing in front of the corners. After this I defeated him and his robot blew up, leaving just him slumped in his chair.
He got very angry and called us natives savages who must be taught our place. He flew up to the big Star Dream and got in, preparing for the next attack.
Just then, and in a dramatic turn of events, Susie whisked by and stole his control helmet thingy. It turns out she was a corporate spy all along! Dun dun duuun! President Haltmann then fainted because he couldn't control the machine without it. She tried the helmet herself and couldn't control it either! She got zapped and fell to the ground. This turned on the computer which possessed Haltmann and became sentient.
The Star Dream announced its plans to get rid of imperfect organisms in order to continue its cold mission of prosperity. "Enjoy your destruction" it said before launching into space.
Then "Area 7: Mind in the Program" displayed. Susie came to and brought out a Robobot armour. She said all she wanted to do was to steal Star Dream and teach the old man a lesson. "Get in, Pinky" she then said to me. Yeesh! Pushy! I guess someone had to take care of that machine though.
Then the most bizarre thing happened that was like something out of the anime FLCL. Meta Knight flew by on his big ship, the Halberd. He nodded at me, I nodded at him and then I jumped through the window, absorbed the ENTIRE Halberd and took on its whole form, a pinker version of it! In this form then I nodded at Susie before flying off.
This boss fight was just like Star Fox! Right down to the barrel rolls and everything! I could absorb debris from projectiles I shot to pieces to charge up lots of star power to fire back at Star Dream. After a good long battle I defeated it! Woo!
It wasn't over yet though! The Star Dream then merged with the giant mother ship Access Ark and became like a big menacing sphere. Another battle followed and had very dramatic music, reminiscent of a 70s/80s Sci-Fi movie. It was pretty amazing. I got its health down to past half, making bits of the ship break off and hurtle towards me. An exciting 3D moment but I actually died here.
When I did I was put back to before I entered the head office! Thankfully, I didn't have to do the other bosses again. Just this menacing planet thingy. The abilities that were here before weren't here anymore.
The boss had some other cool patterns like vanishing and appearing in a similar way to Marx from Milky Way Wishes. I got it down past three quarters of its health, where it then sprouted more of those legs it had when it landed on Popstar. It used these legs to come up close and take swings at me. I eventually defeated this form and thought THAT was the end, but nope! Yet another form up next!
All the pieces broke off to reveal... NOVA's face! It had its own attack patterns. It would try to eat me for one of them. Another attack was to spit out numbers from 5 and downwards before deploying smaller mini-obstacles to defeat, like a weather vane that shot arrows and a technical drawing compass that shot circles. Another two were a pocket watch with teeth and a lightbulb. When the numbers got down to 2 and 1, they lingered and started spinning around, making me have to manoeuvre around them. The last one I encountered was a telescope that shot out laser beams. After a while, I defeated this NOVA thing!
A climactic scene then played out where the NOVA face spewed a laser that tore through a wing of the Halberd. Meta Knight then jumped out and put his sword into a keyhole, which launched me in my Robobot Armour out towards NOVA's face. I then grew this huge screwdriver fist and the next scene was all about twirling the Circle Pad really quickly. NOVA desperately spat out several shields trying to stop me, but I just burrowed through all of them and eventually into NOVA's head, which I burrowed through completely! Very dramatic scene and also kinda reminiscent of anime like FLCL!
I didn't know if it was actually NOVA or not, but it had its face. I wonder if NOVA itself was manufactured by the Haltmann Company?
A CGI cutscene then played out. I was now unconscious and floated out of the Robobot Armour and down towards Popstar, which dissolved all its mechanisation and back into its natural state! I woke up in a field, King Dedede and his servants emerged from the ruins of his castle, Meta Knight flew by on his Halberd and Susie flew away on some contraption as well. I wore a smile and waved!
Then the credits played out and they were interactive! I was able to punch them as they went past while wearing the Robobot armour. Wasn't able to do any other move. All this while a nice version of the game's signature music played and some slide show memories showed in the background. I scored 529 on the name punching. Maybe I'll come back to this later.
Very nice to see Satoru Iwata's name in there as Executive Producer :) I still miss him... It's strange how he's in the credits for this game that was announced after his passing. Maybe it was in development while he was still alive and he worked on it in hospital or something... I can picture it.
So, at the end of the credits it showed an ominous "THE END?" message. When I got back to the menu I found that I had unlocked the "Meta Knightmare Returns" mode and "The Arena" mode!
My file completion was now 69% (heh heh). Lots more to do in this game yet!
No comments:
Post a Comment