My Personal Smash U Top 10

Way back in the baby days of this blog, Sm4sh was a new game. I wrote two posts on my 10 favorite characters. Bowser Jr. made both lists. To show how much I have grown as a human being...behold my Smash U Top 10.

10. Link

So as of this writing, I am just now coming off of a play session where I realized two things that should have been obvious to me. 1) I like characters with lots of projectile options. 2) Because of 1), I therefore am pretty decent with the Links. This Link is my favorite because his new bombs are fun.

9. Chrom

Oh man. I didn't want to like Chrom. I hate Chrom. I hate the fact that like 4 characters in this game more-or-less have the same moveset. But Chrom is fun to play. His movement and attack speed are fast, and he hits hard, to boot. And he has a Kellam color scheme, which makes me feel slightly less bad for using him.

8. Ganondorf

What a difference a big swingin'...sword makes. Now Ganondorf plays like a steroid-ridden bastard lovechild of Captain Falcon and Ike. You don't even have to be good to use Ganondorf. Just keep mashing smash attacks or the twisty neutral special, and eventually you'll launch someone. Then you taunt.

7. Corrin

I ain't even like Corrin either. I love Fire Emblem so much but none of the characters that made it into Smash are cool. Luckily, this one is fun to play. Corrin is queen of the midrange, with her long-reach smash attacks and side special. I don't even know why any of her moves involve the Yato. Just let her transform her limbs and/or head into pointy dragon parts and stab away. I know what I said.

6. Lucas

I am so bloody happy that I finally can have fun playing one of the Mother Babies. Lucas' close-range game got buffed significantly, covering a major weakness that he and Ness used to always share. But the biggest change is a modified PK Freeze. While harder to manipulate in the air, it has excellent lateral launch if it connects, making it one of the deadliest side specials in the game.

5. Bowser

Bowser was a lot of fun to use in Sm4sh and nothing has really changed here. The drop kick is still the most satisfying side smash in the game. Pro tip for World of Light- giant Bowser can solve a lot of problems.

4. Ridley

As a die-hard Metroid fan, Ridley was my most-anticipated character coming into this game. He finds himself outside of my top 3, however, because he friggin sucks. He has the big hitbox of a heavy, but not the, well..heaviness. Why King K. Rool has a better recovery than an actual flying character is beyond me. His specials are a lot of fun to use, but the tiny range on his side smash is maddening, and his aerials leave a bit to be desired. This is slightly mitigated by how cool the Meta/Mecha-Ridley costumes look.

3. Bayonetta

Out of all of the wonderful things the Switch has to offer, the ability to finally play the Bayonetta games has been my personal high point. And Bayonetta as a character? Well, she's an amazonian fashionista dominatrix with a quartet of magic pistols who stylishly eviscerates angels and demons in her spare time. Thank you, Mr. Sakurai. Just...thank you.

2. Simon Belmont

Smash U just happened to drop when I was in the middle of a major Castlevania kick. In Smash, Simon's fidelity to his source material is masterful. The variety of projectiles and the versatility of the Vampire Killer make Simon a deadly mid- to long-range fighter. For me, Simon takes the edge over his descendant, Richter, due to the fact that I've played two Castlevania games staring Simon, but none of the games starring Richter. And Mickey kind of called dibs on Richter so

1. Samus/Dark Samus

 

Yeah, nobody else besides Ridley had any chance of taking this spot. Unlike Chrom, who I think plays better than his echo (echee? echer? idk), and Simon, who I prefer as a character to Richter, I don't really have a preference between Samus and Dark Samus in this game, and I frequently switch back and forth between the two. Still my favorite; still my best.

Hit me up with your Top 10 @CalebOvershield. Thanks, as always, if you made it this far. You the real MVP.

 

GIPL Halloween

I’m gonna trust y’all to use these micro-reviews responsibly. No intro.

Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

Is it too early to call the Switch the best indie console ever? Hyper Light Drifter is one of those games whose aesthetic I was instantly drawn too.  Unfortunately, many initial reviews went on and on about how hard this game was, and I was at a pretty stressful point in my life and unwilling to use my gaming time on something intense. Well, that turned out to be stupid because, on a scale from Pokémon Moon to Super Meat Boy, this game is maybe a 5 or 6 in difficulty. The aesthetic of the game, including character/environmental design and music is peerless. The combat is tight and satisfying with a smooth difficulty curve, and reminds me a lot of an isometric version of the GBA/DS Castlevania games. The exploration; however, was majorly disappointing and keeps the game from elevating to my all-time favorite list. That’s all I’m gonna say for now. Hit me up on twitter (@CalebOvershield) if you want to discuss this further, but it’s likely this game will get its own in-depth analysis on this blog in the future.

My GIPL Rating – A-

Guacamelee 2 (PC)

The highly-anticipated sequel to what may be the most fun game I’ve ever played; Guacamelee 2 is more of an expansion to the original game than a true sequel. In my brain, a sequel should keep all of the elements of the original to keep the feel of the game the same, but should ideally add and expand features that make the original game look barren in hindsight. For a great example of this, look no further than SteamWorld Dig 2. The core gameplay hasn’t changed, but items, movement, skill trees, and level design have all been substantially overhauled to make the sequel an exponentially superior experience than the original (which is significant, considering how great a game SteamWorld Dig is).

Guacamelee 2 adds a neat grappling hook jump mechanic and multiple upgrades to the Pollo Power (Guac’s version of the Morph Ball from Metroid). While the chicken upgrades are nice, the player won’t be spending most of their time in Pollo mode, so their use is somewhat limited to dedicated Pollo puzzles. Aside from these concerns, I also noticed that Guac 2 seems to put less emphasis on non-linear exploration and more on classic platforming (not necessarily a bad thing, just not my preference). The combat is largely unchanged, replacing the overpowered Intenso state with an overpowered skill tree, and is still the best aspect of the game. Overall, I think I still prefer the first game, with its focus more on nonlinearity/exploration and the novelty of being the first game of its kind.

My GIPL Rating – A

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Video Game (Game Boy)

A Game Boy game based on a trading card game based on a Game Boy game. The late nineties/early 00s were a wonderful time to be a kid, folks. This game basically allows you to play computerized duels (is the word 'duel' reserved exclusively for Yu-Gi-Oh?) using the first 3 sets of the trading card game. Two things stood out to me about this game. First, one of the greatest things about Pokémon is that the different ways of interacting with the series allows you to focus on different Pokémon in different contexts. In dozens of play-throughs of Pokémon Blue, I don’t think I’ve ever thought twice about Dewgong; yet a Dewgong card was what powered me through to the end. Secondly, this game feels like a bootleg Pokémon game even though it is very much official. You’ve got a generic set of gym leader-type characters, a generic Elite Four - complete with leader who uses Dragonite - and even a b-hole rival (named Ronald. Ronald!) who shows up at random times and as a “secret final boss.” It’s full of bootleg charm, but with official quality. This one’s a must-play for Pokéfans.

My GIPL Rating – B+

Thumper (Switch)

This one is gonna go down as one of my most all-time disappointing gaming experiences. I’ve been following this one since it was in development, as the game was promoted as a “rhythm violence” game. I didn’t pick it up on PC, but when they ported it to the Switch I figured I would wait and play it on the master system (not to be confused with the Master System).

I finally pulled the trigger, and was gravely disappointed. For a steep $20 entry fee, there’s just not much here. You have like 5 or 6 various actions that you can make your little beetle perform at breakneck pace, each of which are gradually introduced and integrated into the gameplay. Any rhythm game is only as good as its soundtrack, which in Thumper mostly involves an onslaught of samey tribal drums. It’s hard to correlate what’s coming out of the speakers with the high-speed visual prompts, which leads to a frustrating, unsatisfying, and one-dimensional experience. If you have to play this one, spend $5 on the phone version, which is really where this game belongs.

My GIPL Rating – D-

Bastion (Switch)

The double dipping, which started with Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse and Axiom Verge continues with the announcement of Switch ports of Bastion and Transistor (the latter of which will be a Nov. 1 purchase for me, let’s just be honest). I’ve already played and reviewed this one, and my thoughts haven’t changed a bit. This game is still a blast and has plenty of replay value.

My GIPL Rating – A

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GameCube) 

It’s hard to believe I played my first Fire Emblem game just 4 short years ago. Ever since I joined the fandom, people keep telling me how amazing the Ike games are, but the steep price has always been a big barrier. I got tired of waiting for a Switch HD re-release of these, so I clenched my butt cheeks and bought a copy of this one on eBay. The mechanics, such as bonus XP, auto-promoting, Laguz units, and a basic skill system, were well-optimized and a lot of fun. The story was one of the tightest in the series, and there were many memorable characters.

I still find Ike to be highly overrated as a character, but dang it if he doesn’t rival Hector and Ephraim as a straight-up powerhouse unit. And, Jill was next in a long line of Wyvern Riders being among my favorite and most powerful units in a game. For better or worse, this one also seemed pretty darn easy on the normal difficulty. Despite all of the great things I can say about this game, the game lacks a certain special quality (maybe just nostalgia) that is present in FE7. Although I can say Path of Radiance is an objectively better game, I still think 7 is my favorite.

My GIPL Rating – A+

Hollow Knight (Switch)

Expectations are a weird thing. Going into Hollow Knight, I had heard from both friend and online personality alike say that this was the best exploration platformer to date. With this level of hype, there was no way I wasn’t going to notice everything I didn’t like about Hollow Knight. While the world was rich and huge, I thought it opened up too quickly with limited movement upgrades that unlocked the world. While it was fun to explore entire areas early in the game, I found I wasn’t able to find many upgrades in my first traversal of an area, leading to long droughts without finding any upgrade of significance.

The combat was one-dimensional and with very little natural evolution throughout the game. It mostly involved dodging and waiting for openings, then hitting bosses (with giant health pools) once or twice and repeating the process 20-30 times. While the charm system injected some variety, I stuck with my typical 2-3 combinations that worked, as opposed to the challenge of picking the optimal weapon to inflict the most efficient damage on a boss in Axiom Verge, the Smash Bros-inspired beat ‘em up mayhem of Guacamelee, or the even more extreme example of endless weapon combinations in Order of Ecclesia. I certainly had fun getting lost in the world, and even though I beat the final boss with ~65% completion, there’s still significant chunk of the world left to explore. Is it certainly top tier exploration platforming? You bet. Is it the best ever? In my opinion, not even close.

My GIPL Rating – A-

Another GIPL, another great set of games reviewed. I welcome dissention on twitter, hit me up @CalebOvershield. Coming down the pipe we have (among others) Transistor, Fast RMX, and Smash Ultimate (color me excited!)

GIPL: Texas Edition

Have you played EarthBound yet?

I know it's been a long time since I've cranked one of these out. I've gone through a pretty significant life change, going from medical school to residency and moving to San Antonio. But now I've settled in and gotten my first rotation done with, and I've had time to finish some games I started a while back. Conspicuously present on this list are more than a few Switch games, as I bought myself one for graduation. I kept waiting for one of you to buy me one...but ya didn't. The thanks I get for writing all of these amazing blog posts, I tell ya.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

Jumping right in to the heavy hitters, I was finally able to try my hand at BotW after hearing about how great it is for an entire year. And you know what? It really was great. You can sink hours into this one without even realizing it. The only thing that keeps it from being S-tier for me is that most of the things you do in the game are only interesting to me to the extent that they help me progress. Since I beat Ganon, I don't really have much desire to find other stuff. I'm really not super into games that require self-motivation (like Animal Crossing, as another example), but I still had a blast with this game regardless.
My GIPL Rating: A+

Steamworld Dig 2 (3DS)

Speaking of waiting a long time, this highly-anticipated sequel came out exclusively for the Switch back when I still didn't have the Switch. I waited an agonizingly long time until the 3DS release, and this one was worth the wait. It kept the core gameplay of the original but exponentially increased the map size. Dorthy has a whole new item kit than Rusty, and the differences made the core formula continuously exciting. Also, the ending had a nice tie-in to Steamworld Heist. Image & Form are quickly building a pretty unique and interesting universe for all of us, and I can't wait until their next release.
My GIPL Rating: A+

Bayonetta (Switch)

Ever since the first time I saw footage of this game, I've had an intense desire to play it. Kickin' female protag? Check. Stylized angels vs. demon violence? Check. Over-the-top presentation that hemorrhages fun? Yep. Even with all of these things going for it, this one is a bit of a flawed masterpiece, mostly because it's balls hard. You'll wreck your way through the first 2 levels, but then get ready to have your ass spanked repeatedly as you claw through the rest of the game tooth and nail while being humiliated with a "stone" rating over and over again. On the one hand, this forced me to actually learn the mechanics of the game and get super comfortable with them. This helped immensely during Bayo 2 (see below). But there was still a ridiculous amount of BS insta-kills that I wish the game would have cleaned up. Either way, this game is still more than just a building block for a superior sequel; it's stands quite tall on it's own two heels.
My GIPL Rating: B

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

This one is a GIPL repeat. I watched a run of this game during SGDQ and got the itch to play it again. And I obviously wanted to play it on Switch, so I did one of those deals where I bought the same game twice. Don't you judge me. My feelings for this game didn't change the second time around, still the best in the series and the 2nd most fun/colorful exploration platformer (behind only the almighty Guacamelee).
My GIPL Rating: T for Thirsty

Crash Bandicoot: N Sane Trilogy (Switch)

It's still weird playing a Crash game on a Nintendo console. But anyway. Crash 3 was the first game I ever bought with my own money (well, birthday money. I was like 7 okay). I was super interested in this remake when it came out but wasn't ever counting on playing it as I haven't owned a PlayStation console since the PS2. But like every other game ever, it released on the Switch and I played 2/3 of it in basically one day. Reports of its difficulty were WAY overblown, but it was a tad more difficult than I remember the originals being. And when I say remember, I mean just a few years ago when me n Craig played through 1 and 2. Crash's hitbox seems a bit big in this one, but besides that I don't think there's much difference. Besides that it's totally fine. Once the nostalgia wore off, and it did pretty quickly, I realized just how out-dated this style of game feels.
My GIPL Rating: C+

Super Metroid (SNES Classic)

I played the whole thing in one sitting on Brandon's SNES Classic when we were having a get-together at Ted's. Took me a little over 4h. Can confirm that the game still rocks when played all at once.
My GIPL Rating: It's been on here like 3 times so

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)

Finishing this game was a long-time coming. I originally played it on release day, and got a little over halfway through in pretty short order. I got stuck during one of the swamp levels, and then had to travel over the summer and left my 3DS at home. By the time I got back, I wanted to start the game from scratch, and eventually did and finished it. The story was quite solid, although a few of the late-game twists didn't sit well with me. Full voice acting was incredible and should be a series staple from here onward. The combat mechanics were amazing- I actually prefer them to the more standard weapon triangle, 2 space archers, and typical magic mechanics. The maps were uninspired and sometimes downright frustrating, and Cantor units can go eat a giant turd. But this game showed an entire hemisphere the glory that is Saber, and for that I am truly grateful.
My GIPL Rating: A

Rivals of Aether (PC)

Me and Mickey have a (mostly) consistent streak of playing through a co-op game each time we visit, but ever since Cuphead, we just haven't been the same. We were in the mood to play some fighting games a while back and spent a lot of time with this one. We took turns playing though the brief campaign, so it counts toward our streak. But despite the humble roster compared to its clear inspiration, this game is quite balance and nuanced. I'll probably pick this one up on my own at some point and try to git gud. Actually no I won't because new Smash is coming and Ridley is in it.
My GIPL Rating: A

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

Been playing this one since the Wii U days, but it's great to own it for myself. Having all of the characters pre-unlocked takes a bit of the motivation away from me playing this one solo, but I did take the Golden Mario challenge. Earning gold on all 12 200cc cups was a decent challenge, especially the one with Rainbow Road. I had to abandon my longtime main of Wario and become a Shy Guy guy, but I eventually unlocked that really expensive palate swap. This game is a good Mario Kart game. Also my wife plays with me sometimes and I like that.
My GIPL Rating: B+

Bayonetta 2 (Switch)

The perfect sequel is a rare bird, but it does exist. Platinum games amped-up everything great about the original (the weapons, combos, locations, general bombast), fine-tuned the difficulty, and cut out all of the frustrating BS. What resulted is a game with a perfect "normal" difficulty and plenty of things to look for when not eviscerating angels and demons. And as expected, the visuals looked even better. I only got frustrated on the optional bonus challenges, but had to stay focused and use every skill I learned the hard way in the first game to have decent success during my first outing in this one (I even Platinum'd a level. Who's a stone now Bayo 1???). With so many awesome weapons to master and countless items and costumes still to unlock, you better believe I'll be going through this one a few more times before Bayo 3 finally comes out as a Switch exclusive.
My GIPL Rating: A+

Hopefully I won't have to wait so long before doing my next version of this. Hollow Knight and Guacamelee 2 will more than likely be included on the next edition of GIPL, so I'm sure I'll pretty pumped to tell you about them once I play them.

Every Smash Character...Ranked

Quick gripe sesh:

Being a 4th year medical student rocked. My last three months involved a simple outpatient rotation where I worked 4 days a week, a vacation month (month!) that involved a cruise, and a relatively simple education project I created where I worked from home. Now I'm active duty Air Force and have to wake up early every day, and my body and brain are having a hard time adjusting. I'm the kind of tired where I don't feel like doing things that take effort, like playing most video games or reading.

In lieu of my current bout with reality, and the Smash Ultimate announcement earlier today, I figured I'd do something that took very little mental effort: ranking all of these characters. Minimal commentary.

 Tier "Why are you here?"

64. Dark Pit - normal Pit shouldn't even be in this game so no clone plz
63. Lucina - she's literally a clone of a character that already has a clone
62. Mii - so 2006
61. Dr. Mario - so 1990
60. Daisy - I can't unsee that the front of her hair looks like a big butt
59. Wii Fit - is this a character?
58. R.O.B. - why tho
57. Duck Hunt - is this a character?
56. Palutena - just say no to Kid Icarus
55. Villager - Animal Crossing is cool but doesn't exactly scream fighting game character
54. Jigglypuff - no one even cared during first gen tbh
53. Mr. Game & Watch - is this a character?
52. Pac-Man - is this a character?
51. Bowser Jr. - I swear if the Koopalings show up in one more game
50. Pit - *sighs*
49. Zero Suit Samus - I don't really like this being a common way Samus is presented
48. Shulk - I don't personally care for Xenoblade and his voice is the worst
47. Pichu - more clones and more Pokemon = bad
46. Roy - more clones and more (unremarkable) Fire Emblem characters = bad
45. Robin - are avatars characters?
44. Lucario - outdated Pokemon
43. Rosalina - has Rosalina been in a thing since Galaxy 2?
42. Young Link- kind of redundant
41. Toon Link- see above, at least happy memories from Wind Waker
40. Pokemon Trainer - decent concept but only to shoehorn more Pokemon in
39. Ice Climbers - is this really a classic game in the same tier as most of the others whose characters are on this list?
38. Greninja - not as exciting as he was when he was a brand new Pokemon

Tier "They're here I guess"

37. Diddy Kong - I literally can't think of anything to say
36. Olimar - Pikmin is a thing
35. Lucas - love Mother 3 but he's starting to feel more like a middle finger
34. Meta Knight - Kirby's number 2 villain...pushing it
33. Corrin - hate avatars as characters but interesting moveset redeems a bit
32. Inkling - I don't have much stake in Splatoon but new IPs are new IPs
31. Peach - has to be here I guess?
30. Yoshi - ohg;ioqahrovh (I'm bored)
29. Little Mac - cool that he's here
28. Ryu - Street Fighter is a fighting game
27. Dedede - Kirby's number 1 villain...okay
26. Mewtwo - 2nd (maybe 3rd) most iconic Pokemon
25. Cloud - for those crazy FF7 fans
24. Donkey Kong - has to be here

Tier "These guys aight"

23. Ganondorf - makes sense
22. Kirby - from a game
21. Sonic - gives us cool Sonic vs. Mario battles
20. Mario - in every Mario crossover game for some reason
19. Luigi - slightly better Mario
18. Marth - big part of bringing FE to the west but too many clones
17. Snake - one of the first big third party characters who doesn't feel right in this game (in a good way)
16. Megaman - belongs in this game as a titan of classic gaming
15. Fox - fun to use, loses points for being a furry
14. Falco - Birb Fox
13. Ike - best FE character in this game (not saying much)

Tier "The good ones"

12. Wolf - better moves than Fox and Falco, glad he's back, grumpy furry
11. Shiek - works best combined with Zelda; fun to switch fighting styles mid-battle
10. Zelda - see above
9. Bowser - drop kicks
8. Link - iconic and versatile moveset
7. Pikachu - rivals Mario for most recognizable icon in this game
6. Bayonetta - maybe helped bring Nintendo to the naughty side?
5. Ness - Earthbound is so good, cool that he's been in from beginning
4. Wario - an amazing character that farts
3. Captain Falcon - has been in more Smash games than F-Zero games, honestly is more iconic in this series (Falcon Punch, show me your moves, etc.)
2. Ridley - meme becomes reality, Metroid love
1. Samus - who else were you expecting?  

As always tweet at me why I'm wrong. Bedtime!

Unnamed Podcast With Me n Craig Episode 2

We discuss our favorite anime heroes and villains. Listen here!

Why the Super Metroid Ridley Fight is Boss Perfection

For the fan of action and adventure games, boss battles typically provide some of the most memorable and enjoyable moments. When talking about Twilight Princess, people won’t typically mention a particularly well-designed puzzle in the Arbiter’s Grounds, but rather their first time riding rails on the spinner trying to smash into the floating demon head of Stallord. Fewer people discuss the mundane encounters of admittedly challenging scrubs in Dark Souls than folks that mention the time they finally beat that one Fat Guy and his Quick Buddy (I’ve never played Dark Souls). For a game to truly leave a strong impression, it’s gotta have good bosses. But what makes for a good boss fight? We can explore that through what I believe to be the perfect case study: the Super Metroid Ridley fight. 

Can you get him to drop the Metroid? I've never been able to.

Bosses are frequently just crazy-looking monsters that are no more than mere obstacles in the player’s path. Remarkable bosses, on the other hand, establish themselves as hateworthy before they challenge the player to combat. One of the (innumerable) strengths of Super Metroid is its seamless blending of an in-universe story and a narrative that the players themselves write when they subjectively experience the game. Samus straddles (heh) the line between character and avatar in a way that very few video game protagonists can match. When Samus (and the player) are first exploring the Ceres Space Colony and encounter Ridley as the first enemy in the game, it makes an impression on the player (and Samus, by extension…do you see what I’m getting at here?) when he handily kicks her/the player’s ass and runs off with the last Metroid. The objective of the game, recovering the Metroid, has been laid out, and it’s clear that this path will ultimately go through Ridley. This creates motivation not only for the heroine of the game, but also for the player - it becomes personal. This results in greater anticipation when he finally appears to fight Samus, and greater catharsis after victory. This ultimately results in a stronger impression.

Boss fights are also periodic tests of skill. There are no better example than Zelda bosses, who often reside at the end of dungeons, and who require use of the most recently-acquired item to defeat. Bosses toward the end of a game, therefore, should require that the player use most, if not all, of their acquired skills when fighting them. Let’s put a flag in this concept, as it intertwines with the final, and perhaps, strongest feature of the Ridley fight.

No matter the design of the enemy or environment, a boss fight will only be as good as the actual battle itself. Unfortunately, bosses seem to too often fall into a boring formula. The boss attacks a few times, and then will show a temporary opening of an obvious weak spot. The player attacks, and then the enemy will resume this pattern, maybe with a few new variations, until they are eventually defeated. To me, this takes all of the tension out of the fight for a couple of reasons. First, instead of a desperate struggle, the fight just boils down to pattern recognition (the lowest form of intelligence, I might add) and waiting. Once the sequence has been figured out, it’s difficult to lose the fight. This turns the battle into a glorified cut scene that only serves as a break from normal gameplay, not a truly challenging moment to be conquered. Secondly, I find this enemy behavior to be unrealistic, which destroys my suspension of disbelief. If some great enemy has several attacks at their disposal, but only one of them makes them vulnerable to counterattack, why would they ever use that particular attack against the player? This destroys the illusion that the player is fighting a formidable opponent, and makes it feel more like they’re following a pre-determined course. 

The entire fight is pretty much this intense.

Which brings us back to Ridley. Ridley avoids these common pitfalls by going all-out right from the beginning. Ridley is always vulnerable; none of the attacks in his arsenal render him any more or less vulnerable, and there’s never any pauses in his assault. He goes all out, and it’s up to the player to dodge his attacks and find their own windows for offense. This ties back to the previous concept: you’ll need every skill you’ve gained to beat Ridley. Again, this is done in an organic and realistic way. There’s no obvious tentacles that need to be cut with a boomerang (really picking on Zelda today…sorry!). You have all of your tools, and it’s up to you to figure out how to use them to fight Ridley. Do you patiently charge up your Plasma Beam for more damage output per shot? Do you spam missiles? Do you use Super Missiles early or late in the fight? Are Power Bombs best used to do damage, or should they be reserved for an emergency Crystal Flash if you get low on health? How good are your Space Jump skills, and how much of the fight should you do while airborne as opposed to on the platform? The game, and Ridley’s actions, don’t spoon feed you the answer. You fight the battle your way, which parallels Samus fighting the battle her way.

The Ridley fight from Super Metroid doesn’t fall into gamey tropes. It’s a totally believable display of what a fight between Ridley and Samus would look like if both characters existed in the real world. Ridley goes all out, not giving Samus/the player any unnecessary tactical advantage and requiring that Samus/the player use every tool at their disposal - in their own way - to defeat him. And because he has been established from the beginning as an enemy worthy of being conquered, the fight establishes real stakes and interest that elevate it to a brilliant example of Boss Fight Done Right! Rhyming bonus activate.

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