Startropics 1 - Chapter 8 No Damage Run

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Master Knight DH

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Published on July 3, 2019 8:17:01 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qULCaXpCMH4

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StarTropics (1990)

Duration: 17:31

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So we have the final chapter, and while it did have its share of hotspots, it was thankfully able to avoid comparing to either dungeon of Chapter 7. I also avoided usage of the Ray Gun for the first part of the dungeon: Zoda as Totally-Not-Andross. Yep, Mike Jones had to fight a head and 2 hands before Star Fox was even a twinkle in Shigeru Miyamoto's eye to make it cool.

Andross Zoda's hands are thrown off the same way as ever, but the real kicker is attacking the head, which has erratic movement, and if you attack it from a bad position, it can even trap you unavoidably. Fortunately, the head moves clockwise on a consistent basis, so I learned to attack from below if the head is to the left, or from the left if the head is to the right, though again, if you attack carelessly, you'll get gutted, as the head's changed shifting can have it move right into Mike immediately and kill him.

For reference, the head takes damage from only one hit per pass, with the Yoyo and Ray Gun dealing the same damage. Andross Zoda's real HP is even marked by a different RAM address altogether: 060E. Put that on RAM Watch if you're interested.

Next is the worst part: the hallway of Space Troopers. There's thankfully not a whole lot we haven't dealt with before, but there IS one last fun unit to deal with, namely the Wall Troopers. It's barely worth killing the first one, and that's simply to have leg room to punch through the Space Trooper in that same room. Otherwise, these pests are absolutely random about when they fire and how much in succession. In fact, that same first Wall Trooper can RNG you by firing just before being hit the first time, spreading out his 2 shots just enough to make them literally impossible to avoid.

If at all possible, run past them, and do not waste your time fighting them. Unfortunately, you get no such luxury with the third one until you wait for the prespawned green Space Trooper in the room to get in range and clobber him to death, while also having to deal with an infinitely spawning green Space Trooper. It's by sheer mercy that the Wall Trooper's shots have poor hitboxes, which lets me focus on camping out the infinite spawner. Of course, the Wall Trooper is also fond of shooting toward the trap door once I get on the tile to jump to it from, and remember: he can fire in succession.

Main Engine has its own RNG, but it's mercifully not as bad. You do have to be mindful of the infinitely spawning Space Troopers who can sometimes move to avoid being shot at more, but beyond that, if your luck doesn't crash and burn, you can weaken Main Engine on the third blast shield opening and then finish it off on the fourth.

After that and some Zoda Spawns is True Zoda. And I can't quite get what Nintendo was going for with this boss, which is a statement I've uttered so many times that it doesn't hold much meaning anymore. Honestly, though, he has more health than anything has a right to, follows a strict, short loop for the entirety of the battle, and if there was supposed to be a vestige of challenge to this, it's lost by the fact that the enemies give you health. Frequently. Unfortunately, giving you a good laugh isn't translated too well if you fight True Zoda in the open areas, where he can continually suffocate your offense while using fireballs and the Zoda Spawns to try to trap you. It's a Godsend that I can fight him playing hopscotch on the platforms and have a much easier time baiting him that way--mercifully, this was my first recorded attempt getting to True Zoda, but you can see close calls at given moments.

Oh, and by the way, the kill penalty updating is actually disabled with Main Engine and the rooms with the Zoda Spawns before True Zoda, but not with True Zoda himself. Uh, okay, game?

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