Let's Play Psycho World (MSX) World 5 - Pyramid

Here's Lucia at the start of World 5. It's a bit like the start of round four in the SMS version, but very grey.



Here's her new attack, Ultrasonic. Attentive readers may have noticed that something has changed since the last image:



The statue's eyes change colour to match Lucia's shots, just like in World 4. Anyway, that Levitation power up isn't going to grab itself, so let's get going:



Lucia has to break some bricks with Ultrasonic to move forwards. In the last panel, amidst all the grey, there's something new in the background. It's easier to see in the gif:



Also featured: Me struggling to land a hit. Anyway, what's it do?



Like on SMS, these push Lucia upwards. Unlike on SMS, you don't hold jump to go up, it happens automatically.



I manage an easy hit.



I recognise these enemies from the SMS.



Not sure if they put out that much firepower there, though. I take my hits and move forwards. The grey blocks Lucia is running through in the third panel can be jumped to from below. The grey blocks she's shooting in the fourth panel will break to Ultrasonic. The grey blocks in the middle of the fourth panel will break as Lucia puts her weight on them. I feel that this level could have done with a bit of colour variation.



Ultrasonic is doing its part, at least. Getting the power-up from the last image takes it from a one tile high yellow wave to a three tile high green one.



These moving platforms (also grey) can be stood upon, but will cause injury when you touch them from the side or below.



As usual, faced with three options for how to proceed I choose wrong. No problem though, this is a perfect chance to try out Levitation:



Ah. Let's try that again:



やったあ !



At the bottom of this area is another branch: high road or low? Turns out it makes no difference, you come out high or low in the next room. I carry on through another grey corridor.



At the end is a lift to the next room. Oddly, Lucia appears at the top right of the room rather than coming up from below.



Getting the Ultrasonic takes that weapon from green to white. As I move forwards, I notice I'm about to die and excharge my way back to health.



The next room must have known what I was up to, and it gives me back some ESP.



I was so close to getting a seamless gif here, but it was not to be. These falling rocks are replaced with iron balls in the SMS version.



I make an attempt to fall through the floor in the third panel, but it seems it can't be done. The fourth panel stumps me: how can I proceed? It's too high to jump!



I waste some ESP levitating up before realising that it's a ladder. Can I get away with blaming this on how grey everything is?



Heading down Lucia reaches a big blue door. The colour is almost shocking in this drab level.



It leads to a much-needed Levitation power up, and a corridor in which I get some ESP back and pick up another Barrier power up. I have no idea if these are still adding to that power or if it's already at max.



The magician midboss from the SMS is here as well. Its sprite changes after enough damage, which is always a nice touch.



As always, faced with three options to proceed I choose the one that goes straight to the bottom. As with Barrier, I don't know if I'm still getting benefit from Psy-cannon upgrades.



Moving forward I fall down a hole, leaving me well below the Cooling Down upgrade up above.



That's not a problem with Levitation, though. I even manage to dodge the falling rocks getting up there, which is not guaranteed when I'm in control.



The next room is kind enough to feature platforms I can jump through to get the power up.



Heading off the left edge brings me to the left edge of the next screen. It's disorienting! What happened to your consistency, Psycho World?



I'm stumped by this conveyor belt.



When I reach the next one (after another Cooling Down upgrade) I remember that Lucia can run.



I'm finding it hard to get enthused about these grey corridors. Perhaps you've noticed. Even with the statues to spice things up, the aesthetics of this stage are dull.



I reach another door, and the boss, not a moment too soon. Hey, is it talking to me? Is this talk mode?

セシル ヲ
Seshiru wo
Cecile o

"O" is a particle, which means we are beyond my understanding of the technical elements of language, but I think it means that Cecile is the direct object of the sentence, and I am hoping the next line will help me remember what that means (it will not).



Panel 1:
スクイタクバ
Sukuitakuba
Squirrel

I'm not confident of the バ, since it's the same character I had as ル above but with a ", but that combination doesn't seem to exist so I've gone with ba. I suspect google translate has it wrong here with "Squirrel". Someone help me out here, please.

Panel 2:
ワタシ ト
Watashi to
Me and

Panel 3:
タ タ カ エ
Ta-ta-ka-e
Fight!

Panel 4:
....
...

Panel 5:
タ タ カ エ
Ta-ta-ka-e
Fight!

So I take this whole sequence as:

Cecile . Fight me! Fight!

I think there's room for improvement there. At a guess:

If you want Cecile back, fight me! Fight!

Sensenic:
You got it!

The one that gave you more trouble, "sukuitakuba", is definitely not Squirrel:
- Sukuu = To save
- verb + taku = want to -verb-
- verb+"ba" = conditional
So "if you want to save (Cecile)" indeed.
Complicating things out is the fact that the correct form would be "sukuitakereba", but that's long and gets shortened to "takuba" (which I think it's an archaic form? I've only seen it used in similar "bad guy threatening" situations, but I'm not sure)

Finally, the "to" particle usually means "and" but it can also mean "with", as in this case "fight with me" i.e. "fight me"

Also the fact that he speaks all in katakana is to signify RO-BOT TALK.

Thanks, Sensenic!



For all its big talk, this thing's a pushover. I'll break it down:



In the first panel it's doing ESP damage edit: I’m accidentally using Explosion. Then I attempt to activate Barrier, but get confused by the boss pulling Lucia towards it. I thought I'd failed to activate the power select and was moving myself towards the boss, so I let go of jump, resulting in Lucia switching to Cooling Down instead of putting up Barrier. Turns out Cooling Down is a bit stronger than when I last used it (I picked up two power ups for it in the stage), and the boss appears to be weak to it, going down quickly. Lucky!



A cutscene! Lucia, not finding her sister, returns to the lab to find it empty...



A monster's attack leads her to a door she never noticed before...



After she pauses to remember who she's searching for, Lucia's ESP flares around her as she enters the secret door.



Yes, please! You might have noticed that this was not my favourite level of the game. It's totally linear like World 4, but without that stage's interesting forest theme. Instead, everything is grey and hard to distinguish. It's not actively bad, and it was nice to get some boss dialogue and cutscenes, but I'm happy to leave it behind.



Looks like we've all but cleared the map. I'm choosing to interpret the building at centre left as the lab, where Lucia is now.

Next time:



Sewer World



This is an ESP amplifier. Use it and read this bonus post!!



がんばり まっす!
Ganbari Massu!
I'll do my best!

Finally we get the whole thing in one piece.



ふゆうじゅつ
Fuyuujutsu

Trying to look this up got me a lot of Naruto on google. I guess "Jutsu" means technique or skill, and "Fuyuu"... dunno. I got results about some kind of sand levitation thing in Naruto, so I guess this means levitation technique?

Sensenic:
Indeedly do.
"Floating technique", literally.

In the second panel, I took the upper path at the first junction, confirming that it just leads to the upper entrance to the next room (plus it starts you in a location where you take an immediate hit, which is not great).



Here are the two forms of the midboss.



And where you can go if you don't fall down the hole in this area.



Panel 1:
ワタシル ワイヤード
Watashiru Waiyaado
I am Wired

I think its name is "Wired", not sure what the "ru" is about.

Sensenic:
The first "ru" - ル is in fact a katakana "ha" - ハ, which is being used as the "subject matter" particle, so it's read "wa" - "I am Wired."

Panel 2:
セシル はここには いない
Seshiru Hakokoniha Inai
Cecile is not here

Panel 3:
よおおん
Yooon

I dunno what the deal is with this, or why the middle two characters are small. Maybe it's supposed to be the sound of the robot powering up?

Sensenic:
The "yooon", like in stage 1, is added right at the end of the sentence for emphasis as a silly/cute-ifier, here specially in stark contrast as how dignified he talks in the normal mode.
Also to contrast this lines is in basic, childish hiragana, against the cold and robot-speak katakana in the normal mode.

Panel 4:
だれにもいって ないのに なぜ
Darenimoitte Nainoni Naze
I am not talking to anyone why

Panel 5:
トークモード が
Tookumoodo Ga
Talk mode but

Panel 6:
ばれたんだ ろうか ?
Baretanda Rouka ?
Was it taken out?

Putting it together, I think it's saying:

I am Wired. Cecile is not here. It's Talk Mode but I am not talking to anyone. Why? Was it taken out?

I guess this might refer to it also talking in the regular mode, confusing the robot. I dunno, but I enjoyed this one.

Sensenic:
Finally, the last sentence is
だれにもいって ないのに "Even though we didn't tell any one"
なぜ トークモード が ばれたんだ ろうか ? - "Why/how was Talk Mode discovered?"

bareru = to be revealed, left out in the open, sth hidden. Say, an easter egg, or a well hidden plot twist.

ラッキー !
Rukkii!
Lucky!