19 xeodrifter - 100% complete!

Dear Readers,

Before finishing up with this game I wanted to find the rest of the health upgrades and get 100%, so I went exploring everywhere again.

I covered the green planet but found nothing.

I then found a secret passage on the purple planet at the first shell enemy. I simply had to jump into the right wall and run across the lava to obtain it. Hooray! It was a nice find.

I searched the blue planet but couldn't find anything else.

I searched the red planet then, including the passage that led to the boss but I couldn't find anything. Finally I gave in and looked up a map, which showed a secret passage in the ceiling of the red planet map just after the lava dash in the top right. I took it for granted before that there wasn't anything there. In fact, I think this may be the only place in the game that has a false ceiling? I'm not sure though.

With that I now had 100% progress! I faced the boss again for the sake of it and I wiped the floor with it now that I had all the upgrades!

So what can I say? This scratches that Metroidvania itch we had during the 3DS era and kept us going for a while. I had the 3D slider on max the whole time and I'm going to miss having a map on a second screen when we leave this generation of systems far behind.

18 xeodrifter - the final boss and the warp core!

Dear Readers,

Now that I had all the 6 abilities I decided to explore the red planet before facing whatever boss was there to find more upgrades.

I found a health upgrade alright that needed the shift move. I went back to the title screen and saw that there were possibly two more health upgrades so I went back to exploring the earlier planets. I had no more weapon upgrades to find.

I combed the green and purple planets but couldn't find anything else.

I headed straight back to the red planet to investigate the mural that was now finished. I shifted right and encountered the grey boss! It grabbed this big green diamond-shaped thing and escaped upwards! I chased after it with the Rocket.

I continued on a winding path where I had to dash across lava and use the phase shift many times. I eventually got to the boss chamber.

This time the boss was green and had the same patterns as before but it was faster. I died a few times but I managed to whittle its health down. When I got it down all the way it turned grey and did something with its eyes that made weird black hole thing effect happen that sucked the whole scene into itself like it was made out of paper.

I found myself in a new area that was all blue and murky and I had to navigate the tunnel. It had urgent and strange music. There were these long green spiky things that came sideways out of the wall like those spiked pillars in Mario games.

I started hearing some noises and it was the grey boss cowering in a little cache it made for itself, clinging onto the green diamond thing for dear life. I shot at it which killed it and brought me back to the boss room along with the diamond thing. It was the warp core!

When I collected it, a little cutscene played out where I was on my ship and flew out of that little pocket of space and among the stars once more. Hooray!

The credits rolled and included Kevin Cassidy of GoNintendo! He blogged about the game and had it on the site banner as well as the usual awesome Nintendo news. I think he was doing a partnering promo thing at the time but he was cool about it. It was an example of something that always made me happy, when the developer and the press were making and telling us about a game that was really good. When that happens it feels like all is right with the world for a little while :)

This game I had now beaten but it was 97% complete with two remaining health upgrades to find. Where were they? I thought I combed around everywhere. I must've missed something.

17 xeodrifter - exploring the blue planet and defeating the blue boss

Dear Readers,

Now that I have more abilities and firepower, it's time to explore the blue planet.

I found that the big chasing flying enemies take two fully powered shots of the solar flare to be defeated. However, my upgrades were now fast enough and powerful enough to take them out without too much hassle! Pretty happy about that!

I continued past where I couldn't go before with the Rocket and found a passage to the left that had a health restoring enemy. There was a heart on the back ground so I took that to mean this was a refill station. Back on the path up ahead was a heavy barrier, so I'm glad I didn't immediately come here when I got the Rocket before the Solar Flare.

The path continued towards the boss. Before facing it I guessed that the ability it was keeping had something to do with the walls I've been seeing between me and upgrades and paths.

This time the boss was blue and I beat it on my first try! I was very powerful and used charged Solar Flares on it. I was also able to damage it while it was in barrier form so that was nice. Made the battle go a bit quicker. Its new attacks included unleashing smaller minions of itself to chase me. It was a close battle though and I was left with 1 health remaining!

The new ability I got was the Phase! Or was it Phaze? I'll spell it with an 's' for now. This ability lets me do a type of quick dodge where I disappear and shift forward a few paces before reappearing. 

I made my way back to the ship, finding new paths and upgrades, including ones that I had seen before but couldn't reach. More health and weapon upgrades which were always nice.

16 xeodrifter - exploring on the red planet for upgrades with the solar flare

Dear Readers,

It seemed obvious that the next boss would be on the blue planet, so I decided to explore the red planet for upgrades with the Solar Flare so I could prepare for it.

Straight away there was the weapon upgrade at the start of this area. I then learned that as awesome as the Solar Flare was, the big block enemy's laser was still stronger. It also takes like 4 charged shots to defeat it with the weapon! I'll stick to the fast wavy strategy for it.

I found a health upgrade in the rightmost part of the map and beyond the boss area I found another weapon upgrade. Then I headed back to the ship.

Lots of upgrades so stopping here was a good idea! I feel I'm going to need to be as strong as I can when I go back to the blue planet. Hope I'm more able to deal with those big flying bug enemies now!

15 xeodrifter - exploring green planet with solar flare

Dear Readers,

I decided to go back to the green planet with the Solar Flare, since there weren't any new bosses here and I could just find more upgrades to deal with later ones.

It was only now I noticed that the map displays had numbers of dots next to them, probably indicating their difficulty level. I barely explored the blue planet. That'll be later I'd say since it has four dots. The weapon mural thingy was on the red planet though so maybe that'll be later again, who knows.

Those bomber enemies I can now destroy with one hit, which is great. 

I explored further the top right part of the map for another weapon upgrade before returning to the ship.

14 xeodrifter - using the awesome solar flare weapon

Dear Readers,

Now to explore the bottom left part of the purple planet map while trying out the new awesome Solar Flare.

I was able to use the Solar Flare while using the submarine. It felt really good to swim into enemies while also deflecting their shots. The multi direction shooters were particularly fun to defeat!

I reached the bottom left and found another weapon upgrade before returning to the ship. The next question was where to explore next with this new possibility?

13 xeodrifter - defeating the green boss for a new weapon

Dear Readers,

I returned to the purple planet with my new Rocket ability to do more exploring. This time I was able to make my way to the dot at the top left part of the map. Along the way, I came across more heavy barriers. I guessed the boss here must be holding on to the ability that lets me through them!

This time, the boss was green. I died a few times to it and it seemed its new ability was firing lasers while in the shield mode. I made my rapid fire full power and that kept it at bay but I wondered if there was a better way to go about it. I kept the pressure on it and whittled its health down to defeat while in the background, which was kind of cool. The prize it dropped was back there too.

The new ability was the Solar Flare, a charged weapon I was able to equip and unequip with a touchscreen tap. It couldn't combine with the other weapon upgrades but it was nice on its own.

I continued into the tunnel that looped back to before the boss room, trying out my new weapon. I found that it also acted like a shield that deflected bullets and I could run into enemies with it as well. It felt like a nice new fun weapon to use and master!

I grabbed the gun upgrade above this area and backtracked to the ship so I could save, having fun with my new weapon along the way.

12 xeodrifter - rocketing for a health upgrade on the green planet and another obstacle

Dear Readers,

I returned to the green planet with my new rocket ability.

I made my way to the shaft located just before the second boss and shot up through it. I found a room with a health upgrade but it also had a secret passage to a heavy barrier. I'll have to come back here again later.

That was that for the green planet for now, so I set course for the purple planet to see what I could explore further there.

11 xeodrifter - plane shifting while rocketing

Dear Readers,

I went back to the red planet for more exploring. I forgot about that path just before the first big block enemy. I went down and found indentations in the wall that matched with my ability slots. They even matched with whether the slots were filled or not. I'll have to come back when I get all the abilities. There was a wall here that blocked the way forward on this path. I guess the abilities will have something to do with taking it out of the way.

I used my Rocket to explore the new path that had the second big block enemy in the way. I also found that I could plane shift while using it, which came into play here! Unfortunately, I couldn't use the Rocket with the sub. Oh well. I found a weapon upgrade up here. I put it straight into the quick shot, which helped that little bit more when dealing with the big block enemy on the way back to the ship.

There was nothing left to explore here at the moment, so I went back to the ship to take my Rocket ability to one of the other planets.

10 xeodrifter - rocketing back to my ship

Dear Readers,

With my new Rocket ability I shot up the next shaft I came across. I was also pleased to learn I could manoeuvre a bit and cancel the boost as well if I wanted.

To the left was a huge block enemy and a heavy barrier I still couldn't break yet that blocked the way to a weapon upgrade. To the right was a lava pool to dash across. This made the path loop around to a shaft that dropped down to just before the grey boss. Very tidy!

Now to backtrack and find shafts to explore with my new ability. I backtracked up that shaft I found earlier in the fork in the path. I guess that's a sign there's an ability ahead, when there's a forked path and one of the branching paths has an obstacle you can overcome and backtrack through with that ability. It was a similar thing with the Run and Plane Shift abilities. I guess with the sub too, but that was a while back to remember fully.

I did come across an unexplored shaft on the way back, but it was near the beginning and I wanted to go back to my comfy cosy ship and save before making any more progress.

9 xeodrifter - the grey boss and the rocket ability

Dear Readers,

After exploring the area with the nice Mutant Mudds easter egg, I continued to the next. This path continued to another section at the bottom of a hole and a boss chamber.

This boss was again like the other bosses but this time it was grey and was able to flood the front plain with lava. It also liked to stamp down on me, which made me want to use the run ability. I lost a few times but eventually I beat it, earning the Rocket ability! Cool name for it! ;)

I wasn't allowed to backtrack, so I had to continue through the path that opened forward.

I tried the Rocket a few times. It's a nice ability that lets me shoot up from the bottom of a hole or shaft. I knew something like it was coming along and I finally had it.

8 xeodrifter - exploring the red planet (not mars)

Dear Readers,

I had to go on to the last new planet to explore, the red planet. Not to be confused with our own red planet, Mars.

This planet had red blistery walls, which were very Metroid like indeed. The first thing to see was the powerup in the background blocked by the strong barrier. I guess I can always use that barrier as a handy test for whatever abilities I'll discover.

The music here was pretty dramatic, as if maybe it was the last planet.

The first enemy here was new and it was a huge stone block with an eyeball that made this huge noisy beam shoot now and again. I ducked and increased the wavy laser to deal with it. I was glad that I could customise weapon upgrades on the lower screen while the game was paused.

I got past this big block enemy and ran across the lava pool to the next area. Another new enemy was this green bouncy blob that just bounced around. In the background, another huge block enemy guarded the path that led to the bottom of another hole. Further on, there was a health upgrade that was in the wall and blocked off. I also saw another one of those "!" things just before a plane shift barrier. Still not sure what they do.

I went into the background and dashed across the lava pool back there. I was able to shift back but had to keep the momentum to reach the other side of the front pool.

Then I had to dive down with the submarine. At the bottom there was a secret passage in the right wall that lead to another lava pool and heavy barrier I couldn't pass, so I'll have to come back.

I continued and met a piranha plant like enemy that spat shots in the same pattern all the time. Handy enough to deal with.

There was some more plane shifting and before diving again I found another secret passage in a left wall that lead to a chamber with some cool graffiti! It said "MAX WOZ HERE!" and it had a scene with Max from Mutant Mudds scrawled out on the wall. Lovely easter egg! :) Handy health restore here too.

The path split in two here going straight down a long way. One was just a pure drop down a shaft with a risk of landing on enemies and the other was full of water. They both met at the same place with a door going into the next area. I made sure to have explored as much as I could before proceeding, so I wouldn't have to deal with the respawned enemies until later. There's a pro tip for you!

7 xeodrifter - exploring the blue planet and meeting those horrible flying chasing enemies

Dear Readers,

Time to explore a new planet with my upgrades, submarine, plane shift and run! I went for the blue planet. I was met with water, stalagmites, stalactites and a little blob thing that exploded in my face straight away. Welp!

I went back to the ship to top up on health and tried again. The music was a lovely groovy David Wise-like jingle.

I dove deep and reached the bottom. To the left was a secret passage to a health upgrade. The path to the right led to a secret passage in the right wall that had a weapon upgrade. Nice thing to get right away.

Enemies here that shot in different directions now shot in more directions and in pairs of shots. At least now I was able to fire even faster with my upgrades.

Then I met a scary and awful enemy with wings that chased me! I was able to beat it but I was in bad shape and had to return to the ship to recover and save. It looked a lot like the awful flying enemies with wings in Metroid but much bigger.

I was able to defeat it and make some progress. Then I came across health and weapon upgrades that were trapped behind walls where I couldn't reach them! I have to move past them for now.

Further on were another two of those horrible flying bug things! I died several times to them and they are terrible! They take so many hits and they keep flying away and dive bombing you!

I died several times and tried to just go past them. Then I came across lava pools on both the regular plain and back plain along with those impassable barriers that stop me from plain shifting. Dashing between them while also trying to avoid those flying enemies was not easy!

Then I came to a dead end and couldn't progress further. I was at the bottom of a hole again so I had to go back to the ship, or in my case, die again so that area isn't explored on the map. I know what's there though at least. It's scouted out in my mind.

I wonder if those roundy things with the "!" next to the barriers have some kind of mechanism? I tried shooting them but nothing happened.

6 xeodrifter - exploring purple planet with run ability

Dear Readers,

I returned to the purple planet now that I had the run ability. I wanted to revisit the lava pools that stopped me before.

My first stop was in the lava pool near where I found that health upgrade in the centre of the map. I ran over the obstacle and came across another obstacle. I was at the bottom of a hole again so I'll have to come back here again later.

There weren't any other lava pools here. There was that big metallic obstacle but I couldn't break that, so I went back to the ship.

5 xeodrifter - returning to ship with the run ability

Dear Readers,

After gaining the run ability from the red boss, I continued beyond.

The path led me to a lava pool. I was able to use my newly obtained run ability to dash across it! This way looped back to the path that led to the boss, so I went the other way.

I came across those mean bomber flying enemies and was better able to deal with them since I had higher ground. Running still wasn't the greatest idea though.

I got back to the fork in the path and took the lava filled route this time. There was a weapon upgrade in the middle of it!

I continued backtracking until I got to the beginning and returned to my comfy spaceship to save and decide where to explore next.

Before I fought the red boss there was a hole above me I couldn't explore as there were no platforms to climb. I'll come back later.

There were lava pools on the purple planet, so I returned there now that I had the run ability. 

4 xeodrifter - back to the green planet to explore and find the run ability

Dear Readers,

After goofing with the save system, I went exploring the purple planet again until I got the plane shift. I got some health and gun upgrades too.

I returned to the green planet and covered my tracks to see if I had missed out on anything. Straight away there was the health upgrade near the beginning. There was another health upgrade to find with this method on the way to the first boss I fought. There's a hidden path in the corner of the cave where you go up and turn left for the boss and that's where I found it.

I could plane shift in the boss room too but there was nothing to find. I continued and looped through the waterway to the beginning. Here I was able to plane shift and explore another water tunnel loop for another weapon upgrade. I was still near the entrance, so I made sure to save!

I explored further with the plane shift and went to a section where the path split in two. The high road had a lava pool, the low road was a waterway. They both met in the same place and the path rejoined.

Further on was a new enemy that was big and mean looking. It dropped bombs that exploded into bits whenever I got close, so I had to be strategic when shooting at it. For now, I was happy with using the rapid shot to get a few hits in and run away!

I continued to where I had to plane shift and climb and continued to the next boss. Again it looked the same but it was red this time and it had a different pattern.

It was able to encase itself in a bubble and float after me. I had to plane shift and this made it try different attacks. It didn't seem to like when I stayed on the back plane as it attacked harshly whenever I went back there! It was pretty hard to plane shift from the front because I always had to jump first. It took a few tries, but I was able to beat it with some quick manoeuvring and the quickshot fully powered with my 3 weapon upgrades!

When I beat it, I got the run ability. This was like a sudden charging dash that kept going until you hit something or you cancel it.

3 xeodrifter - getting used to the save system

Dear Readers,

With the Plane Shift obtained, I backtracked and found a path that lead to a gun upgrade. There were these 5 meters on the touch screen and I could increase different feature strengths of the gun by equipping this upgrade. One was like a wave beam and another was a quick shooting type of beam. Another was a big strong beam. I'll learn more about them as I upgrade.

Further back again, I was able to plane shift with the submarine and found more health.

I then tried to explore the plane shift where I found the upgrade hidden in the yellow wall, but there was another type of obstacle, some kind of lava pool. I had to come back later. 

On the way back to the ship I died, which sent me back to just after obtaining the Plane Shift from the boss. Then I ran out of time to play so I quit, which reset my progress back to before I started exploring the purple planet. I'm gonna have to keep an awareness of this.

2 xeodrifter - obtaining the submarine and the plane shift

Dear Readers,

After obtaining the submarine, I continued beyond, where I immediately had to use it to explore further. I dove deep and found a badly needed +1 health capsule. I continued and it looped back to the beginning of the area. There was another place to dive, but I needed something else to continue exploring. I could already see areas in the background but didn't have a way to explore them yet.

I returned to the spaceship and travelled to the purple planet next. This place had lovely music too. The green planet had very nostalgic sounding music whereas this one had music that seemed to capture the wonder of space exploration. Very nice style of music.

I had to use the submarine very early here and explored until I got to a big shelled enemy I had to fire at multiple times to defeat. I was able to do it handily. I came across many enemies that fired in four directions and passed by some areas with a background area too.

Some enemies with a big eye and horns shot in 3 directions. I was able to beat them by standing very close to them and shooting them out.

I went through a door that led to an area with light yellow coloured blocks. There was what looked like a dead end but was a secret passage to more health.

In the water along the walls were also these tiny enemies that weren't the easiest to see but I had to be careful not to bump into them.

The path led into an area with blue walls and continued until I met another boss! This was the same as the purple one but this was a different purple. I suppose you could say that first one was more magenta and this was more bluish purple. It had a similar pattern to the first and I was able to beat it on the first try, thanks to having more health.

When I defeated it I obtained the plane shift! With this I was able to switch between the background and this plane when the situation called for it. It looks really nice on the 3DS screen!

I used the plane shift straight away on the path ahead and it looped around to just before the boss' chamber. There was also a path blocked off by a huge metallic obstacle. Don't know how to deal with that yet.

1 xeodrifter - cute little 3ds metroidvania

Dear Readers,

Now to finally start playing Xeodrifter! It's by Renegade Kid, particularly Jools Watsham. Things have changed since 2014 and he went on to form Atooi, where he still brings games like this to us. He was also behind Mutant Mudds and he supported the Nintendo 3DS like no one else did. He used to post QR codes you could scan with your 3DS that would link to special images that displayed in 3D with the .mpo format. No one else ever did this.

I've played a chunk of this and it's a lovely little Metroidvania. It's just like if you can imagine Mutant Mudds in the Metroidvania style.

The 3D visuals are brilliant as well and it's a joy to play at a desk or an armchair when you have a comfortable moment.

The electronic instruction manual is tiny with a total of 3 pages, with little else but an explanation of the controls. The 3DS menu icon is the little red main character and the visual is the character rotating around with the logo of the game, in a nice solid pixel style.

I start the game as the little red shooter guy on my spaceship when I get hit by space debris and it damages my warp travel mechanism. This leaves me stranded in a system with four planets. My ship detects some energy thingy that'll help me so I have to go to each planet and seek out whatever these 7 dots are across the whole lot of them.

I decided to go to the green planet first. It feels very nice and Metroid-like, right down to the enemies that move back and forth. The ones that help you replenish energy are a nice tribute and are much easier to deal with than in Metroid.

I explore for a bit and come across my first boss, a big purple alien dino thing. I died a couple of times but its pattern was very sussable and I was able to defeat it for the submarine.