why are his lips so thick
In my--admittedly limited--experience, Metroid bosses are unique among all video game bosses. I'd like to ask for your thoughts on something I recently wrote about the matter. Please excuse my writing skillz, they're not really up to snuff for this kind of thing.
(Partially, I'm worried that the points I make are obvious.)
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Bosses in Metroid Fusion strike a balance; half of the game's boss design relies upon Samus' upgrades, while the other half relies upon reading a pattern and overcoming it. The game's bosses do this collectively, as some bosses may tend towards one half or the other. To prove and explain this, let's take a look at three of the game's bosses: the Nightmare, which strikes a balance, the security robot, which tends towards pattern reading, and Ridley-X, whose design relies mostly on Samus' upgrades.
When I say a boss' design relies upon Samus' upgrades, I mean that defeating the boss requires the player to have found numerous health and weapon upgrades such as energy tanks and missile tanks. Going into a boss fight with 50 missiles would be preferrable to 5 missiles, for instance.
These design goals, when put together, result in a, for lack of better word, organic experience. The notion that "the more missiles you have, the better" makes more common sense than it does video game sense. Video games often give bosses a period of invincibility after they are struck, which hardly follows common sense; if I keep pounding the boss, it ought to keep taking damage. In addition, the pattern reading in Metroid Fusion is more lively than in most other platform shooters. Mega Man games, for instance, include very strictly scripted boss patterns. Bosses in Metroid Fusion, on the other hand, often change their movement based on the player's own movements, and the player can often coax them into compromising locations. This is a stark contrast to the Mega Man school of boss design, where the player adjusts his/her movement to get around the boss and shoots whenever he/she gets the chance; in Mega Man, the player works around the boss. In Metroid Fusion, the boss and the player are both trying to catch each other--the boss and the player are in a reciprocal dance.
As a result of this sort of "organic" design, the player can take multiple approaches to a boss. These approaches all reflect one spectrum: the more upgrades you have, the less skill you need in reacting to the boss pattern. By the same token, if you can react to the boss' pattern particularly well, you won't need as many upgrades. If you get hit zero times and you never miss a single shot, then you won't need any extra health or missiles.
The Nightmare has three phases. The first two are largely uninteresting; while they are well designed, they do not demonstrate a balance between upgrade-minded and pattern-minded boss design.
In its third form, Nightmare flies about, floating on and off the screen. When it floats onscreen, it moves towards Samus. When it misses or passes through Samus while hitting her, it not-too-quickly changes course towards the player again. The boss, then, chases Samus from offscreen. Every so often, while chasing Samus, Nightmare will slow down for a short period of time; when this happens, the player can stop running from the boss and start shooting it. This gives us a reciprocal dance. On one hand, the boss is trying to hit Samus. On the other hand, the player is trying to move the boss into an appropriate position for shooting. Both the boss and the player, then, are trying to set each other up.
The third form also has upgrades in mind. Unlike Nightmare's first two forms, which have a weak spot that is difficult to hit, the third form's weak spot is its face, a large target. In addition, the boss will slow down at times, giving the player a large opening for shooting many missiles. Say that the player can shoot 2 missiles a second. A similar boss might be written so that, after being hit, it is invincible for 5 seconds. This boss would then only have 1/5 the HP of the original boss. This second boss, however, would only allow the player to score 2 hits within 10 seconds. This means the player would use drastically fewer missiles than the original boss. So, because Nightmare has no period of invincibility, the player can pump 10 missiles in 5 seconds into Nightmare. Since the game's missile tanks raise Samus' maximum number of missiles by 5, this approach lends a great amount of importance to the player's ability to find missile tanks; at 10 missiles for 5 seconds, they'll go fast.
In addition, the Nightmare's ability to go off screen lends the fight a certain amount of unpredictability. This unpredictability adds to the upgrade-minded end of the boss' design. Unless the player knows the pattern well, he/she will often be uncertain of the Nightmare's location while it's offscreen. Extra energy tanks, then, provide a safety net here. If the player is uncertain of the Nightmare's position and gets hit as a result, the player can afford the hit--but only if he/she has found enough energy tanks to spare. Again, the player's ability to find upgrades is key.
Let's not even get started on the atmospheric ramifications of the Nightmare's ability to go offscreen. For serious. Instead, let's briefly cover those other two losers.
The security robot has a period of invincibility after it's hit, lessening the importance of upgrades. Its pattern-minded focus comes out in its attempts to follow the player. Samus hangs from the ceiling above; the robot will leap at her and hit her if the player isn't careful. If she hangs towards either the far right or the far left, however, the robot will leap into a ledge and be temporarily stunned, allowing the player a moment of peace to hit the robot. The player is kept from staying on the far left or right by a few things. First, the robot has a very small weak spot. Aiming directly above it is easiest, but the robot will never be directly below Samus after the robot has been stunned; Samus has to move towards the center of the room to hit it. Also, the robot's attacks--jumping at Samus and firing homing missiles at her--keep her constantly moving. She cannot afford to linger anywhere, even on the far left or right. The robot, then, keeps the player on his/her toes, but the player can cause the security robot to open itself to attack.
I have to admit, I don't understand Ridley-X's pattern very well. He does a lot of sitting right on top of Samus and causing continuous damage. The player's main recourse, then, seems to be to tough it out and to endlessly shoot. From what I can tell, both by my own experiences and by watching others, this fight is more determined by the player's ability to unload attacks and take hits than it is about the player's ability to avoid hits. There's no worry of not being able to hit Ridley-X; his entire body is weak to attack, and he has no period of invincibility. Pattern, then, seems to be nearly irrelevant to this fight. On the other hand, the player will only survive if he/she has enough energy tanks--upgrade-minded indeed.
Metroid Fusion bosses, then, can be outsmarted, but they can also be outgunned. As a result, they enforce the game's upgrade system without dumbing down the combat.
(Partially, I'm worried that the points I make are obvious.)
- - - - -
Bosses in Metroid Fusion strike a balance; half of the game's boss design relies upon Samus' upgrades, while the other half relies upon reading a pattern and overcoming it. The game's bosses do this collectively, as some bosses may tend towards one half or the other. To prove and explain this, let's take a look at three of the game's bosses: the Nightmare, which strikes a balance, the security robot, which tends towards pattern reading, and Ridley-X, whose design relies mostly on Samus' upgrades.
When I say a boss' design relies upon Samus' upgrades, I mean that defeating the boss requires the player to have found numerous health and weapon upgrades such as energy tanks and missile tanks. Going into a boss fight with 50 missiles would be preferrable to 5 missiles, for instance.
These design goals, when put together, result in a, for lack of better word, organic experience. The notion that "the more missiles you have, the better" makes more common sense than it does video game sense. Video games often give bosses a period of invincibility after they are struck, which hardly follows common sense; if I keep pounding the boss, it ought to keep taking damage. In addition, the pattern reading in Metroid Fusion is more lively than in most other platform shooters. Mega Man games, for instance, include very strictly scripted boss patterns. Bosses in Metroid Fusion, on the other hand, often change their movement based on the player's own movements, and the player can often coax them into compromising locations. This is a stark contrast to the Mega Man school of boss design, where the player adjusts his/her movement to get around the boss and shoots whenever he/she gets the chance; in Mega Man, the player works around the boss. In Metroid Fusion, the boss and the player are both trying to catch each other--the boss and the player are in a reciprocal dance.
As a result of this sort of "organic" design, the player can take multiple approaches to a boss. These approaches all reflect one spectrum: the more upgrades you have, the less skill you need in reacting to the boss pattern. By the same token, if you can react to the boss' pattern particularly well, you won't need as many upgrades. If you get hit zero times and you never miss a single shot, then you won't need any extra health or missiles.
The Nightmare has three phases. The first two are largely uninteresting; while they are well designed, they do not demonstrate a balance between upgrade-minded and pattern-minded boss design.
In its third form, Nightmare flies about, floating on and off the screen. When it floats onscreen, it moves towards Samus. When it misses or passes through Samus while hitting her, it not-too-quickly changes course towards the player again. The boss, then, chases Samus from offscreen. Every so often, while chasing Samus, Nightmare will slow down for a short period of time; when this happens, the player can stop running from the boss and start shooting it. This gives us a reciprocal dance. On one hand, the boss is trying to hit Samus. On the other hand, the player is trying to move the boss into an appropriate position for shooting. Both the boss and the player, then, are trying to set each other up.
The third form also has upgrades in mind. Unlike Nightmare's first two forms, which have a weak spot that is difficult to hit, the third form's weak spot is its face, a large target. In addition, the boss will slow down at times, giving the player a large opening for shooting many missiles. Say that the player can shoot 2 missiles a second. A similar boss might be written so that, after being hit, it is invincible for 5 seconds. This boss would then only have 1/5 the HP of the original boss. This second boss, however, would only allow the player to score 2 hits within 10 seconds. This means the player would use drastically fewer missiles than the original boss. So, because Nightmare has no period of invincibility, the player can pump 10 missiles in 5 seconds into Nightmare. Since the game's missile tanks raise Samus' maximum number of missiles by 5, this approach lends a great amount of importance to the player's ability to find missile tanks; at 10 missiles for 5 seconds, they'll go fast.
In addition, the Nightmare's ability to go off screen lends the fight a certain amount of unpredictability. This unpredictability adds to the upgrade-minded end of the boss' design. Unless the player knows the pattern well, he/she will often be uncertain of the Nightmare's location while it's offscreen. Extra energy tanks, then, provide a safety net here. If the player is uncertain of the Nightmare's position and gets hit as a result, the player can afford the hit--but only if he/she has found enough energy tanks to spare. Again, the player's ability to find upgrades is key.
Let's not even get started on the atmospheric ramifications of the Nightmare's ability to go offscreen. For serious. Instead, let's briefly cover those other two losers.
The security robot has a period of invincibility after it's hit, lessening the importance of upgrades. Its pattern-minded focus comes out in its attempts to follow the player. Samus hangs from the ceiling above; the robot will leap at her and hit her if the player isn't careful. If she hangs towards either the far right or the far left, however, the robot will leap into a ledge and be temporarily stunned, allowing the player a moment of peace to hit the robot. The player is kept from staying on the far left or right by a few things. First, the robot has a very small weak spot. Aiming directly above it is easiest, but the robot will never be directly below Samus after the robot has been stunned; Samus has to move towards the center of the room to hit it. Also, the robot's attacks--jumping at Samus and firing homing missiles at her--keep her constantly moving. She cannot afford to linger anywhere, even on the far left or right. The robot, then, keeps the player on his/her toes, but the player can cause the security robot to open itself to attack.
I have to admit, I don't understand Ridley-X's pattern very well. He does a lot of sitting right on top of Samus and causing continuous damage. The player's main recourse, then, seems to be to tough it out and to endlessly shoot. From what I can tell, both by my own experiences and by watching others, this fight is more determined by the player's ability to unload attacks and take hits than it is about the player's ability to avoid hits. There's no worry of not being able to hit Ridley-X; his entire body is weak to attack, and he has no period of invincibility. Pattern, then, seems to be nearly irrelevant to this fight. On the other hand, the player will only survive if he/she has enough energy tanks--upgrade-minded indeed.
Metroid Fusion bosses, then, can be outsmarted, but they can also be outgunned. As a result, they enforce the game's upgrade system without dumbing down the combat.
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