The moment of truth: does my save file work?
It does!
Here's Hydro-wave at level 1. Short range, one shot.
If you haven't figured out how to run, this is as far as you get to go in this game.
The enemy drops a teleport power-up. Since I already have that ability, that's not much use to me.
I compare Hydro-wave and Psy-cannon. The former kills these guys in one shot, the latter takes several, despite being powered up. I'll be sticking with Hydro-wave for the rest of the level. Also of note in this gif: both horizontal and vertical scrolling, but only one at a time. It seems to lock in when I reach the middle platform - I'd expect it to scroll left when Lucia approaches that side of the screen, but it doesn't. I assume scrolling both ways at once is beyond the MSX2's capabilities, or perhaps would be too processing-intensive to implement.
Heading down, Lucia gets an always-welcome Barrier upgrade, and faces something new - two options for how to proceed (the SMS version has a couple of optional side areas, but you go into them, get them done, and carry on with the main path). I take the lower door.
It's a midboss, which goes down fairly easily and drops yet another Teleport upgrade.
The next room resembles one in the SMS version of this level: a series of platforms over lava with some enemies.
The animation on these mini-volcanos is a lot more impressive in this version. I attempt to attack it, but Lucia's shots are blocked by the ground. Maybe if I hadn't had her duck they would have connected.
There's a tricky jump up top, which I fail.
This is another room that was replicated in the Sega version. I really like the way the moving rocks interact with Lucia's movements here.
Another midboss, and another Teleport. What's the point of this? It doesn't take you all the way back in this version, and the enemies and powerups don't seem to repeat, so I don't see the benefit.
The next room has some tricky gaps in the floor.
The short ones can be skipped over if Lucia is running.
At the end is another fork in the path: A door at the bottom and a ladder upwards. I take the high road, leading to a short vertical chamber. The two enemies at the upper right drop a full health and a full ESP refill between them, which is nice. The long corridor at the top has three exits, at the top left, top middle, and lower right. I take the top left, but before I do:
One of the enemies drops an hourglass, which freezes all other enemies for a little while. Anyway, through the top left door...
The boss, Sidekick (AKA Lava King), looks a little closer to the concept art I posted in the SMS LP than it did in that version. The fight is basically the same: it shoots out its stuff, then moves up and down twice. Lucia can only hit it on the belly or the head, so she either has to get on top of the beam or hit it when it moves down.
I'm finding it pretty hard to get on top of the beam, and even when I do it's easy to get caught out by Hydro-wave's short range and limited vertical coverage (as in the second image here). I like how landing a hit makes it look like a Speccy game.
I eventually manage a good position and lay on some damage. This should all be over soon...
And it is, though not in the way I wanted. Whoops.
On the plus side, this gives me the chance to try the other paths through the level. At the first choice, I take the upper door this time:
It leads to a mini-volcano and a mini-flame head. I kill them in the wrong order, wasting the kill-everything drop from the flame head on an empty room.
In the next room Lucia has to avoid falling lava drops.
She traverses to the left, down, and over to the right. The room after that appears to be a dead end? How do I cross this lava?
False alarm. There are floating blocks (otherwise it would have been a job for Barrier). An enemy here drops an upgrade for the Psy-cannon, which I want badly enough to get killed in the lava trying to reach it. Whoops.
This time I kill the head first, allowing me to blow up the volcano.
Again the power-up causes me trouble. Plus, it disappears very soon after appearing! They didn't do that on SMS.
I'm not doing well today.
I kill the flame head again, but this time it drops points instead of a bomb. I guess these things are somewhat randomised.
This time I play smart, going past the enemy without killing it until I'm on the same level as it. Finally I have level 3 Psy-cannon. Let's try it out!
Good stuff. I immediately switch back to Hydro-wave.
The paths converge in the next room, and I take the lower left exit instead of the ladder this time.
This guy was the mid-boss on SMS, though it's a bit more ghostly here, and really easy for some reason. It drops a star power-up that I take to be Explosion. I consider using it but decide to save my ESP.
The exit takes me back to the previous room, from where I can enter the ghost's chamber again. It doesn't reappear.
I go up and try out Explosion. It's really weak. I think it'll need a few more upgrades before it becomes the room-clearer it was on SMS. Incidentally, this room is actually different to what it was when I took the lower door at the first branch. On that path it was a single screen, on this one it scrolls upwards a bit.
The top left door in this room led to the boss last time. This time I take the lower right door.
I wind up in the lava corridor that I went through on my first pass of the level, but this time when I clear the moving platform room I reach the boss.
It's really hard to land a hit on this guy, maybe because the level one Hydro-wave only hits at middle height. Maybe I should have switched to the broader Psy-cannon.
I get there in the end, though. Phew! As on SMS, I pick up Burning Bullet.
Yes I want to save!
Here's the map again. I've added some ticks to the areas we've already been.
Next time:
Country of Ice.
This is an ESP amplifier. Use it and read this bonus material!!
OK, let's take another shot at this with Talk Mode on:
Right off the bat we've got some text. I actually didn't notice this initially, but it happens again in the next stage so I went back and looked for it and here it is. It's easy to miss because of the platform it appears in. It was only clearly legible in this one frame where it had faded in but the platform was still dim. It also wraps off the left edge of the screen, with the first character appearing on the right. I took another look at my hiragana tables:
が ばり まっす!
Ga Bari Massu!
I think this is Ganbarimasu with the ん cut off by the edge of the screen, meaning "I'll do my best!". Good attitude, Lucia.
I thought there might be something for changing attacks, but I guess not. I'll have to keep using the SMS version's names for them.
Activating Barrier is the same as before, but reactivating it gets something new:
ほいみぃ だよん
Hoimii Dayon
The first part maybe a phonetic "Heal me"? The second and fourth characters seem to be different versions of the same thing. I've found a website that says that the small ぃ is for foreign language sounds, but it's not very clear on how it works. Google translate gives this as "smile". The second word is the same as the last part of the first boss's speech, which from what's been said in the thread I'm taking as "duh..." or "of course" or something.
Dracula:
You got the characters correct with "Hoimii Dayon." The little "い" just indicates that her vowel is trailing off. "Hoimi" is the basic healing spell in Dragon Quest, which would be common knowledge for a Japanese gamer. That might be what we're seeing here.
The barks for getting hit are the same as before. With all these teleports dropping, I decide to see what Lucia says when it's activated:
め が まわるう
Me Ga Mawaruu
I'm not sure about the last character here. う is the only one I can see that it looks like, but why is it so small? Anyway, I suspect め が is a phonetic english "Mega", and google translate gives まわる as "to go around" (with the う google calls it "to fight"), so I think this might be "Mega return", appropriate for the teleport back skill.
Dracula:
I think what she's actually saying here is, "My eyes are spinning..." as "Me" can mean "eye" and "ga" is the topic identifier. The little "う" is again just to note that she's trailing off.
It only takes me back to the start of the room, though. Seriously, what is the point of this ability?
I try it again in the next room, and it takes Lucia back to the same place.
I didn't make this jump in the main run, so this gif is to show that I can do it.
Here's another teleport. If it gets more powerful with multiple pickups, it's now at level 4.
Still just goes back one room, though. If it took you back to the start and allowed exploration of other paths, I could see the point of it, but it doesn't.
The room with the ghost has a flame head this time, and I get a Hydro-wave power up instead of Explosion. I think this is because I'm on the lower path from the first branch instead of the upper. Hydro-wave is now doubled and goes further than before. Nice!
Heading up again, I try standing on an enemy while it's frozen this time, which works, then go through the middle door (which I didn't try on the main run).
It leads me to this room, which is reached earlier in the level when you take the upper door near the start.
On this path I get another Hydro-wave upgrade, which doesn't seem to actually make any difference. In the lower right of this image I've put from top to bottom the level one Hydro-wave, level two, and level three. Two and three don't seem any different from each other.
Here's the boss!
1st Panel:
あなたは だあれ?
Anataha daare
This is the same as the first boss. A silly "Who are you?", I'm told.
2nd Panel:
わたしのなまえは
Watashinonamaeha
Apparently this is "My name is", and should be broken up to "Watashi no namae wa", even though the table says that は is "ha", not "wa". Anyway, it certainly makes sense in the context.
3rd Panel:
サイドキック なんです.
Saidokikku Nandesu.
I think the first part is what has been given in the thread (and on the back of the poster in the bonus post for the MSX intro) as "Sidekick". Nan desu I'm having trouble really getting a grip on, but it seems like the standard way to answer the question "What is your name" is "Watashi no namae wa [name] desu", and the "Nan" makes it more emphatic. So this line plus the previous is "My name is Sidekick!". I think the little circle at the end is a period, not sure why that's there.
Sensenic:
Design document: Lava King (Sidekick)
MSX poster: Molten/Lava lifeform Sidekick (Sidekick)
MSX dialog: Sidekick
It's still hard to hit. I think on SMS there were fewer patterns that would hit you if you stood near Sidekick's feet, making it much easier.
I get a good position and it's over.
ラツキー
Ratsukii !
I haven't figured this one out. Searching google for it turned up a key duplication place by this name, so maybe it's "Let's Key!" in reference to unlocking a new ability?
Dracula:
The little "tsu" doubles the consonant following it. She's saying "LUCKY!" in English.
Yimothy:
I’m disappointed in myself on this, because I initially had my transcription of Sidekick with a tsu in the middle of “kick” before I realised the error and corrected it. Shame to catch it there and miss it in the next one.
That's it for today.
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