![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lieselstarwarsgamesWe’re back! Sorry it took a while, but work and school have to come first. Anyway, Han just became a playable character, so what’s next in store for the NES Star Wars game?
Well, Han’s blaster is much stronger than Luke’s, so that’s a plus, but he can’t use a lightsaber, which is a minus. Also, the music switches to Han and Leia’s love theme when you play as Han, even though he hasn’t met Leia yet.
I could switch back to Luke since he has the lightsaber, but this is my Han, dammit! I’m going to keep him at least until we leave Tatooine, even if he explodes a hundred times on the way. The pathway to Docking Bay 94 is crawling with stormtroopers and Boba Fett wannabe bounty hunters. Han doesn’t have a PRAYER against the bounty hunters who shoot a spray of fireballs in all directions, so he’d better do one of the things he does best: run. Oh, and now Jawas fall out of the sky and jump you as well, nice.
Well, it took a few tries, but I got to Docking Bay 94 without switching to Luke. Yeah, once again Han shows that you don’t need the Force to be awesome! But of course, once you arrive at Docking Bay 94, it can’t be as simple as just getting on the Falcon. First you fight through some more stormtroopers, then you find that a ladder’s blocking your way to the Falcon. Yes, a freakin’ LADDER’S keeping you from getting on the ship.
I’m STILL not switching to Luke, though.
Oh, of COURSE once you climb the ladder, there’s a gun turret right at the top. Why wouldn’t there be?
It’s time for another maze, and these damn gun turrets are EVERYWHERE. They shoot rapidly, they can’t be destroyed, and they’re virtually unavoidable. Oh, and THIS is rich – someone decided to put a Falcon shield in a corner behind TWO gun turrets.
I’m beginning to feel like the AVGN here, but SOMEHOW I managed to get the shield while only getting hit once, so I think that’s an accomplishment, but you’ve still got to fight your way past even more stormtroopers and gun turrets to get to the Falcon. Han, I love you, but WHY did you park your ship in the middle of such a convoluted maze?
FINALLY, I made it off of Tatooine without switching back to Luke! Give me a moment to do a happy dance and stare at the 8-bit rendition of Han’s beautiful face.
Oh wait, we’re not done? What, now we have to fly the Falcon through the remains of Alderaan? Wait, what do you MEAN I can’t shoot the rocks? WHY THE FUCK CAN’T THE FALCON SHOOT THE ROCKS??
Well yes, now you have to weave your way through the rocks that were once Alderaan and they’re FUCKING EVERYWHERE. Here’s where the Falcon shields you collected in the caves become essential – the number of shields you have determines how many times you can get hit before dying, but you’ll still do a LOT of dying. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the rocks’ pattern either – they’re just all over the place. Seriously, they seem to be more numerous here than the asteroids in ESB.
After a lot of tries, by some miracle I was able to get to the Death Star, thank the Force.
Should I switch back to Luke now? Maybe I’ll need the lightsaber for the Death Star, but I really like playing my Han. Honestly, this game’s kind of growing on me, especially now that we’re past the damn caves. It’s hard, but I’m finding it hard in a doable way.
The Death Star’s got a big maze of elevators – go up and down, reach a dead end, backtrack to last elevator, go up and down again. Oh, and mouse droids shoot at you. Yes, even MOUSE DROIDS are hostile in this game. After a while you’ll reach the computer terminal, then it’s up and down more elevators to the tractor beam generator, where you’ll actually have something that resembles a boss fight to disable the tractor beam (yup, the old fossil’s left you to do it for him). You’ve gotta climb ladders and shoot at the tractor beam’s weak spot while ducking the laser fire from moving gun turrets. It’s actually a pretty fun battle.
After the battle, guess what you have next? Right, more elevators. At least they’re not as annoying as the caves, and the layout isn’t too confusing . . . or maybe I was just lucky, since it only took me a few minutes to find Leia – who’s looking rather saucy.
Now you have Leia as a playable character – and she has her own theme music too. I gotta say, her buns make her sprite look . . . weird, like she's got a snail shell on her head or something.
Her blaster’s pretty useless, so I switched back to my Han. After going through more and more elevators, you end up in another maze of a room full of conveyor belts, hostile droids who can’t be killed (even GONK DROIDS can hurt you – and they’re invincible), and SPIKES. Why the Empire would build a room full of spikes in the Death Star, I have no idea. Maybe it’s like how there are always these catwalks over bottomless chasms in the movies.
I’m actually digging the sense of exploration through the Death Star. The game really does get better as it goes. Maybe if it didn’t start out with all those damn caves, then fewer people would rage-quit.
After this area, you end up in the trash compactor and have to fight the Dianoga while the sludge rises all around you. Great, I’m getting flashbacks to the Toxic Tower level from Donkey Kong Country 2 – one of the most teeth-gnashingly frustrating levels in any game ever and the main reason why I can’t love DKC2 as much as the first game.
Well, I did end up switching back to Luke for this part, since the lightsaber is much more effective against the Dianoga than Han’s blaster – in fact, it only takes one slice to kill it.
Uh-oh, now I’m at the final Death Star stage. If I remember correctly, this is the part that made the AVGN rage-quit. Am I stronger than him? Can my geekiness beat his nerdiness? The odds are against me, but . . . NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!
Well, you need Leia for this stage since she’s the best jumper, but her weapon is the weakest, so I’m swapping between the three of them. Swapping between them is also useful since they each have their own health bar. Spikes, spikes, spikes everywhere, so many spikes, so many air cannons that blow you right into the spikes. I’m not even going to bother with a screenshot, since if I take the time to take one, I’ll die from the spikes.
HOLY SHIT, I DID IT! I escaped the Death Star! YES! The rest of the game should be a piece of cake after all those damn spikes.
Now you’re back in the Falcon and gunning down TIEs. Hey look, you can move your crosshairs and shoot at the same time – take THAT, Atari 2600 Star Wars game!
And, uh, did I say the rest of the game would be a piece of cake? I’m already eating my words . . . uh, no pun intended. Those TIEs will kill you again and again and again and by the time you beat the stage your finger will be aching. But DAMN, it’s an awesome feeling when you finally beat it.
Well, we’re almost at the end, so I think it’s time for one more break. Next time, I will beat the game.
Well, Han’s blaster is much stronger than Luke’s, so that’s a plus, but he can’t use a lightsaber, which is a minus. Also, the music switches to Han and Leia’s love theme when you play as Han, even though he hasn’t met Leia yet.
I could switch back to Luke since he has the lightsaber, but this is my Han, dammit! I’m going to keep him at least until we leave Tatooine, even if he explodes a hundred times on the way. The pathway to Docking Bay 94 is crawling with stormtroopers and Boba Fett wannabe bounty hunters. Han doesn’t have a PRAYER against the bounty hunters who shoot a spray of fireballs in all directions, so he’d better do one of the things he does best: run. Oh, and now Jawas fall out of the sky and jump you as well, nice.
Well, it took a few tries, but I got to Docking Bay 94 without switching to Luke. Yeah, once again Han shows that you don’t need the Force to be awesome! But of course, once you arrive at Docking Bay 94, it can’t be as simple as just getting on the Falcon. First you fight through some more stormtroopers, then you find that a ladder’s blocking your way to the Falcon. Yes, a freakin’ LADDER’S keeping you from getting on the ship.
I’m STILL not switching to Luke, though.
Oh, of COURSE once you climb the ladder, there’s a gun turret right at the top. Why wouldn’t there be?
It’s time for another maze, and these damn gun turrets are EVERYWHERE. They shoot rapidly, they can’t be destroyed, and they’re virtually unavoidable. Oh, and THIS is rich – someone decided to put a Falcon shield in a corner behind TWO gun turrets.
I’m beginning to feel like the AVGN here, but SOMEHOW I managed to get the shield while only getting hit once, so I think that’s an accomplishment, but you’ve still got to fight your way past even more stormtroopers and gun turrets to get to the Falcon. Han, I love you, but WHY did you park your ship in the middle of such a convoluted maze?
FINALLY, I made it off of Tatooine without switching back to Luke! Give me a moment to do a happy dance and stare at the 8-bit rendition of Han’s beautiful face.
Oh wait, we’re not done? What, now we have to fly the Falcon through the remains of Alderaan? Wait, what do you MEAN I can’t shoot the rocks? WHY THE FUCK CAN’T THE FALCON SHOOT THE ROCKS??
Well yes, now you have to weave your way through the rocks that were once Alderaan and they’re FUCKING EVERYWHERE. Here’s where the Falcon shields you collected in the caves become essential – the number of shields you have determines how many times you can get hit before dying, but you’ll still do a LOT of dying. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the rocks’ pattern either – they’re just all over the place. Seriously, they seem to be more numerous here than the asteroids in ESB.
After a lot of tries, by some miracle I was able to get to the Death Star, thank the Force.
Should I switch back to Luke now? Maybe I’ll need the lightsaber for the Death Star, but I really like playing my Han. Honestly, this game’s kind of growing on me, especially now that we’re past the damn caves. It’s hard, but I’m finding it hard in a doable way.
The Death Star’s got a big maze of elevators – go up and down, reach a dead end, backtrack to last elevator, go up and down again. Oh, and mouse droids shoot at you. Yes, even MOUSE DROIDS are hostile in this game. After a while you’ll reach the computer terminal, then it’s up and down more elevators to the tractor beam generator, where you’ll actually have something that resembles a boss fight to disable the tractor beam (yup, the old fossil’s left you to do it for him). You’ve gotta climb ladders and shoot at the tractor beam’s weak spot while ducking the laser fire from moving gun turrets. It’s actually a pretty fun battle.
After the battle, guess what you have next? Right, more elevators. At least they’re not as annoying as the caves, and the layout isn’t too confusing . . . or maybe I was just lucky, since it only took me a few minutes to find Leia – who’s looking rather saucy.
Now you have Leia as a playable character – and she has her own theme music too. I gotta say, her buns make her sprite look . . . weird, like she's got a snail shell on her head or something.
Her blaster’s pretty useless, so I switched back to my Han. After going through more and more elevators, you end up in another maze of a room full of conveyor belts, hostile droids who can’t be killed (even GONK DROIDS can hurt you – and they’re invincible), and SPIKES. Why the Empire would build a room full of spikes in the Death Star, I have no idea. Maybe it’s like how there are always these catwalks over bottomless chasms in the movies.
I’m actually digging the sense of exploration through the Death Star. The game really does get better as it goes. Maybe if it didn’t start out with all those damn caves, then fewer people would rage-quit.
After this area, you end up in the trash compactor and have to fight the Dianoga while the sludge rises all around you. Great, I’m getting flashbacks to the Toxic Tower level from Donkey Kong Country 2 – one of the most teeth-gnashingly frustrating levels in any game ever and the main reason why I can’t love DKC2 as much as the first game.
Well, I did end up switching back to Luke for this part, since the lightsaber is much more effective against the Dianoga than Han’s blaster – in fact, it only takes one slice to kill it.
Uh-oh, now I’m at the final Death Star stage. If I remember correctly, this is the part that made the AVGN rage-quit. Am I stronger than him? Can my geekiness beat his nerdiness? The odds are against me, but . . . NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!
Well, you need Leia for this stage since she’s the best jumper, but her weapon is the weakest, so I’m swapping between the three of them. Swapping between them is also useful since they each have their own health bar. Spikes, spikes, spikes everywhere, so many spikes, so many air cannons that blow you right into the spikes. I’m not even going to bother with a screenshot, since if I take the time to take one, I’ll die from the spikes.
HOLY SHIT, I DID IT! I escaped the Death Star! YES! The rest of the game should be a piece of cake after all those damn spikes.
Now you’re back in the Falcon and gunning down TIEs. Hey look, you can move your crosshairs and shoot at the same time – take THAT, Atari 2600 Star Wars game!
And, uh, did I say the rest of the game would be a piece of cake? I’m already eating my words . . . uh, no pun intended. Those TIEs will kill you again and again and again and by the time you beat the stage your finger will be aching. But DAMN, it’s an awesome feeling when you finally beat it.
Well, we’re almost at the end, so I think it’s time for one more break. Next time, I will beat the game.
