Fran Bow Review

Fran Bow is the first game I completed in 2017. A point-and-click adventure game that throws horror and hallucinations into the mix, Fran Bow is creepy and oftentimes unsettling. You take control of the character Fran Bow Dagenhart as you try to figure out who killed your parents and left them bloody and dismembered in their bedroom. After discovering this horrific scene Fran runs into the nearby forest outside of her house with her black cat Mr. Midnight and collapses on the ground. She is later found by police and taken to a mental institute for children.

This is where the game begins as you try to figure out who butchered your parents and why you have been brought to this institute. After a recent session with your psychiatrist Dr. Deern, he gives you a new type of medicine called Duotine. The medicine is supposed to "create a door between the subconscious and conscious," and when Fran takes it she sees hallucinations of morbid scenes involving the people and objects around her. 

Taking a Duotine pill will allow Fran to see characters and items she couldn't see before and allows her to progress through the game further. After finding items you'll have to figure out what they are used for and oftentimes you will even have to combine certain items (just like the classic Resident Evil Titles) to make new items. While this can be frustrating at times, with a little bit of thought and experimentation you'll be solving Fran Bow's puzzles in no time.

 Just some of the many items you will find in Fran Bow

Without saying too much about the story, as I don't want to spoil it, Fran Bow gets progressively more frightening and unsettling as you get closer to the end. It also isn't for the faint of heart or those that don't do well with blood and horrific scenes. I love horror games, but even I found myself cringing at some of the images I was shown. The music and sound effects also do a great job of encouraging uneasiness.

If you can get past the extremely high level of creepiness, you're in for a treat. The main appeal of Fran Bow is the imaginative characters and environments you'll encounter throughout the game and their interactions with Fran. Killmonday also did a great job of including a great amount of lore and detail into the story. The illustrations and art style also made me feel like I was reading a children's storybook at times and I couldn't help but think of Alice in Wonderland as I played.

    Speaking with the many inhabitants of the world is a must to progress

The five chapters found within Fran Bow are storytelling at its finest and definitely worth the ride. Everyone who plays will likely interpret the story differently, as it's left up to your imagination and the clues left throughout the game.

Overall, Fran Bow is a game that I will remember for a long time due to the sheer shock value associated with it and the disturbing scenes I bared witness to. If you're the type of person who enjoys a good story and can handle blood and guts then I highly suggest experiencing Killmonday's game.

My Review: 8/10

 

My Top Video Games of 2016

Another year is over and we're left with more new game releases than we can count. 2016 saw many new options for us to indulge in, covering just about every genre we can think of. That being said, here are my favorite games of 2016 that I played. I'm also going to include some honorable mentions that I have not played, but games my friends loved that came out this year.

My Top 5 Games of the Year (in no particular order):
 
1)

The Witness
Available on: PC,
PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Developer: Thekla Inc
Publisher: Thekla Inc
Created by:
Jonathan Blow

Initial Release: January 26, 2016


After fully embracing the PC gaming life (and buying a capable tower), The Witness was one of the first games I downloaded to experience on my new machine. I followed the game for most of its development cycle and couldn't wait to get my hands on the creator of Braid's next game. I wasn't let down. The Witness provides a serene environment to explore with mysteries hidden at every corner. Best described as a 1st Person Puzzle/Adventure game, it left me speechless with its aesthetically pleasing surroundings, calming sounds of nature and clever puzzle design. If you love exploration games and using your brain then this one is for you.

2)

Pokémon Sun and Moon
Available on: Nintendo 3DS

Developer:
Game Freak
Publisher: The Pokémon Company

Release Date: November 18, 2016


I've been a huge Pokémon fan since I was 12 and received a copy of Pokémon Yellow as a gift to play on my Game Boy Color. Ever since that first adventure with my Pikachu by my side, I knew that Nintendo and Game Freak had something special, but little did I know how much sticking power the series would have over the years. Whether I was 12 or in college, I always found something to like about each new version of Pokémon that would come out. Pokémon Sun and Moon is no exception to this and is hands-down one of my favorite Pokémon games of all-time. Some improvements include HM moves being eliminated entirely and a reminder of what moves are effective and ineffective while in battle. Couple this in with an interesting story and the best visuals I've seen in a Pokémon game and you've got one of my top picks of 2016.

3)

Doom
Available on: PlayStation 4,
Xbox One, PC (Windows)

Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks 

Release Date: May 13, 2016 






Gamers know Doom as the 1st Person Shooter where, as a space marine, you must take out all the demons of Hell in your pathway before they do the same to you. To survive you must utilize a wide variety of weapons including a chainsaw, rocket launcher, and other moddable guns such as a shotgun and assault rifle. Using quick thinking and an even quicker trigger finger, this game brings back the fond memories of the first two Doom games, while providing an updated take that includes impressive graphics and near flawless gameplay. Look no further than 2016's Doom if you're looking for a fast, satisfying and frantic shooter. Oh yeah the BFG is back too!

4)

Mario Party: Star Rush
Available on: Nintendo 3DS

Developer: Nd Cube
Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: November 4, 2016








Mario Party is one of my all time favorite game series. I loved the original games on the Nintendo 64 and even the majority of them on the Gamecube, but things started to go south in the Wii releases for Mario and his friends. Mario Party 8, 9 and 10 were all pretty lackluster and somehow lost the magic that I grew to love with the earlier games. Since then I have patiently been waiting for the next great Mario Party title and Mario Party: Star Rush is it. Gone is the traditional everyone take turns and rolls individually format, but also gone is the move as a group mechanic found within the Wii games. Instead we are given a breath of fresh air as every player rolls a dice block at the same time and moves simultaneously within the game board, collecting coins and stars to their hearts content. Mini-games are also abundant and I can happily say that their design is smart and enjoyable, making great use of the 3DS hardware. The best part of Star Rush however is that only one copy of the game is needed for 4 people to play (As long as everyone has their own 3DS!) after downloading a free guest pass. While it isn't without its issues, Mario Party: Star Rush still remains my Multiplayer Game of the Year because it reignited my love of playing games in the same room with my closest friends and family.  

5)

Inside
Available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC (Windows)

Developer: Playdead
Publisher: Playdead

Initial Release: 
June 29, 2016



Playdead, known as the guys who made Limbo, are back again with their latest effort Inside. Coming out 6 years after Limbo, the game follows the story of a young boy who breaks into a research facility for unknown reasons. Using the same two-dimensional platforming gameplay that was first seen in Limbo, you must control the boy to solve puzzles and avoid being captured by scientists. The whole game has no dialogue, but instead focuses on detailed sound effects and musical cues. One wrong step or move can lead you right to the boy's grisly death. Figuring out why you are there and the motivations of the boy make for a truly engrossing story that can be left up to interpretation. A must-play and a work of art.

Honorable Mentions

Best PS4 Exclusive: 

 

Best Xbox One Exclusive:

Best Wii U Exclusive:

Best Single Player Experiences:

Best Multiplayer Game:

Best Shooters:

Most Difficult Game:

Biggest Disappointments:

 
So there you have it, the Top Games of 2016! Do you agree with my list and the honorable mentions? Which games did I leave out that you feel deserve recognition of being great games that came out last year? Let me know in the comments!

Plants vs. Zombies Heroes Review (iOS)

Everyone knows Plants vs. Zombies. The original app/game released in 2009 and since then just about every living person has tried their hand in defending their front lawn from incessant zombies. While the game was loads of fun and involved some strategic thinking, it got old after awhile. A second PvZ title involving time travel was launched 4 years later, but contained more of the same gameplay we had grown accustomed to.

With Plants vs. Zombies Heroes we’re given a fresh experience that dives into the Collectible Card Game (CCG) genre. Gone is the tower defense formula that PvZ made itself known for and instead comes a game similar to the likes of Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic: The Gathering, the Pokemon Trading Card Game and of course Hearthstone.

Like those games, the player is encouraged to put together their best 40 card deck in hopes of defeating their opponents in a duel. To start they pick their hero from either the plant side or the zombie side. The matches will always consist of a plant team going up against a zombie team and there are 10 Heroes that can be used on either side. While there’s only a couple of heroes available from the get-go, more can be unlocked as the game is played more.

Once a hero is chosen, the player will then construct their deck based on the cards that are available to them. One thing to note is that each hero has 2 different colors associated with them and they can only use cards that share a color with them in their decks. For example the zombie hero Super Brainz has the attributes of Brainy and Sneaky so he can only use cards that are pink and black in his deck. Making decks with each hero will allow players to use other cards that may not be available to them if they only play as a specific hero like Super Brainz.

As you continue to play, more cards with different abilities can be unlocked by purchasing in-game booster packs with either in-game currency or real money. The more you play, the more currency you’ll earn allowing you to buy more packs and have more cards at your disposal to make better decks. Real money can be dished out to speed up the process, but I haven’t put a single cent into the game yet and have still unlocked a ton of new cards.

That’s a major part of what makes PvZ Heroes so great. Your deck is constantly getting better by subbing out your old cards with the new rarer cards you earn. Opening a pack to find a card that would fit perfectly in your Solar Flare Sunflower deck is rewarding and provides a great incentive to keep playing especially if you want to beat the pants, or should I say plants, off of real players.

Here’s how the gameplay works. Each battle has the same goal, deplete your opponent’s 20 life points before they depletes yours. The layout of each battle shows a top-down view of the playing field with the Zombie hero on one side and the Plant hero on the other side and is played vertically. Just like the original PvZ, there are 5 lanes in which you can place your plants or zombies, 3 of which are normal ground level lanes and then 1 elevated and 1 water lane. Some plants and zombies receive attack bonuses or have abilities that are specific to the elevated lane while others are deemed as aquatic and are the only ones that can be placed in the water lane.

Each round always plays out the same way with the zombie team playing their zombie(creature) cards first, followed by the plant team playing their plants and other cards (power-up/damage/draw cards). After the plants team plays, the zombie team is then given an opportunity to play “trick” cards that can either weaken or destroy plants, power-up and move their zombies to a better spot on the board or even allow them to draw cards. At the end of each round, plants and zombies that are in the same lane will attack each other, so strategy must be used to calculate how plants and zombies will match up given their attack power and life totals. If a lane is vacant on one side while there is a plant or zombie on the other side that creature will do damage to the opposing player’s hero. 

It makes for good fun as you’ll never know exactly what cards are in each deck you’ll face, making planning a strategy all the more enticing. That along with the seemingly endless amount of different cards that can be found in booster packs (not sure if they’ll add more as time goes on) make this a game I’ll be playing for the foreseeable future.

While the single player mode is great for learning the basics and seeing how some cards work together, the online multiplayer is where the game truly shines. Outsmarting a real opponent that put together a deck just like you is so much more rewarding and fun than defeating a computer player. Some of the matches I had with online opponents were teeth-grittingly close and had me at the edge of my seat, especially one where I only had 1 life left on my hero that I won. Another opponent who I outplayed even rage-quitted on me before I could hit his hero with the final blow. Matchmaking was also problem free as I found an opponent pretty quickly each time. At the time of this writing though there seems to be a lot more Plant players than Zombie players, so I stick with my Electric Boogaloo Zombie deck most of the time to ensure I can always find an opponent.

Plants vs. Zombies Heroes is my new favorite addiction and I can’t wait to defeat even more difficult opponents online! I just wonder how much staying power it will have and if  (and how often) new cards will be released making its lasting appeal uncertain for now.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Sum 41 - 13 Voices Review

Since the 9th grade, I've been a Sum 41 fan. When their first album All Killer No Filler was released in 2001, it was hard not to fall in love with songs like "In Too Deep," "Fat Lip" and "Motivation." As a teenager in my first year of high school, this was one of the first albums I owned and a catchy one at that.

Through the 15 years from then to now I've bought every CD put out by the band and listened religiously to each one. I still even occasionally play songs from each album on my car rides. So where does Deryck and the rest of the Sums (including Dave Brownsound!) latest offering land in the spectrum of all that is Sum 41? Does it ride with the greats like Chuck and Does This Look Infected?, or does it fall flat like the atrocity that was Underclass Hero?

The short answer...somewhere in the middle.

Sum 41 original members Steve Jocz, Cone McCaslin, Deryck Whibley and Dave Baksh

Here's a brief history lesson in Sum 41: Originally consisting of these 4 guys, Baksh (aka Brownsound) left the band in 2006 to work with his new band and was replaced with Tom Thacker on guitars. Later Jocz (Stevo 32) left the band in 2013 and was replaced with Frank Zummo on drums in 2015. It was that same year that Baksh later rejoined the band to contribute his heavy ass-kicking guitar solos and riffs to Sum 41 once more.

With Dave Baksh once again as part of the lineup, the sound found in 13 Voices has undergone a significant overhaul when compared with the two albums that came out before it, Underclass Hero and Screaming Bloody Murder.

  
That being said let's get into the songs that comprise 13 Voices, which I will divide up into chunks:

Intro (First 3 songs on the album)
Consists of: "A Murder of Crows"/"Goddamn I'm Dead Again"/"Fake My Own Death"

Wow...just wow. Easily the best part of the album is the beginning. These 3 tracks made me fall in love with Sum 41 all over again. Starting with "A Murder of Crows," the subtle lead up into the heavy guitar riffs coupled with the powerfully mesmerizing drums and Deryck once again at the helm of his band is simply breathtaking. This leads right into "Goddamn I'm Dead Again," a perfect combination of Deryck's energized lyrics and Dave's quick fingers on the guitar, an absence that was sorely missed. From there we head into "Fake My Own Death," the first single off of 13 Voices, and a great one at that. The song takes everything we have loved about Sum 41 through the years and amplifies it, but more importantly Deryck, Cone and Dave are all jamming out together in full force. Easily my favorite song off the album. It also doesn't hurt that they poke fun at popular internet memes in the video.

A still from the "Fake My Own Death" music video 

Middle (Songs 4-7)

Consists of: "Breaking the Chain"/"There Will Be Blood"/"13 Voices"/"War"

This is where 13 Voices starts to lose some steam. While I like "Breaking the Chain," it sounds a little too much like a Linkin Park song to me, both in formula and execution. Don't get me wrong I like Linkin Park, it's just that Sum 41 never had this LP sort of sound to any of their songs so it threw me off. Not the worst song on the album by any stretch, inspirational even, just not my favorite. "There Will Be Blood" takes the prize of worst song on 13 Voices. I'm not sure what to make of it. It sounds like a mashing together of multiple Pop/Punk bands into one very messy song that doesn't really know its own identity. Even Dave Baksh's guitar playing can't save this one. Next we have "13 Voices," which starts out almost as an intermission song smack-dab in the middle of the album and then quickly turns into an adrenaline fueled guitar and drum pairing followed up by Deryck's vocals. I can't help but feel this one sounds a lot like some of their previously released songs, especially from Screaming Bloody Murder. Kind of a let down when you know they can come up with more original ideas for songs. Last, but not least in this block is "War," another inspirational piece telling of how Deryck overcame Alcoholism and became a stronger, better person with his sobriety and while the message of the song is a good one, it didn't provide me with much of a spark like some of the other songs did.

 While "War" provides some insight into Deryck's struggle with Alcoholism, it's kind of boring

End (Songs 8-10)

Consists of: "God Save Us All (Death to POP)"/"The Fall and the Rise"/"Twisted by Design"

The 8th track comes in the lackluster song of "God Save Us All (Death to POP)," another song that sounds like Sum 41 is trying to copy another band's style, almost as if they worked together with Green Day on this one. Nothing too memorable about it, although I would consider it a good song to get my blood pumping on the treadmill while at the gym. Next we have "The Fall and the Rise," a joint effort by all the guys contributing their vocals along with a catchy guitar riff and drums that compliment it all nicely. Unfortunately this one also reminds me of Linkin Park and a song that appeared on Sum's Underclass Hero album. As a result it doesn't feel original and kind of like we got the short end of the stick on this one. Last we have "Twisted by Design," another one of my favorite songs. Deryck's delivery is spot on and the band plays well together on this final hurrah of 13 Voices, easily one of the better songs off the album.

While 13 Voices only has 10 tracks, the version of it sold at Target has an additional 4 bonus tracks, which I'll talk about below.

Bonus (11-14)

Consists of: "Better Days"/"Black Eyes"/"War (Acoustic)"/"Breaking the Chain (Acoustic)"

"Better Days" offers another fast-paced Sum song and is catchy. Only about 2 minutes in length, but good nonetheless. "Black Eyes" sounds a lot like "Count Your Last Blessings" from Underclass Hero, not bad though. The acoustic versions of "War" and "Breaking the Chain" on the other hand are fantastic. I always felt acoustic versions of songs had more emotion within them and Deryck succeeds in performing two songs that I feel are both better than their originals with this added realness and peaceful guitar strums accompanying them.

   

So where would I put 13 Voices in the Sum 41 catalog? Here is my list of Sum 41 albums from most to least favorite:

1. Chuck

2. Does this Look Infected

3. All Killer No Filler

4. 13 Voices

5. Screaming Bloody Murder

6. Underclass Hero

There you have it. 13 Voices is simply a good Sum 41 album that fairs better than their last two album releases due to Dave (Brownsound) Baksh's return to the band in all his guitar playing glory. The absence of Stevo on drums is a bummer though as I would have loved to have the original band all back together again.

I give 13 Voices 3 out of 5 stars

   

Scary Shows, Games & Movies (Day 1) - Salem (WGN)

October is finally upon us, meaning pumpkin spice flavored everything and cuddling up to a scary movie (or TV show) on our couches. There's also plenty of video games to play to get us in the spirit of Halloween. To get into the spookiness of the month, I decided to do a post every couple of days in October discussing the games I'm currently playing and the TV shows and movies that are filling up my Netflix queue this month, in celebration of the paranormal and nightmare inducing scenarios we've come to love over the years.

Today I finished up season 2 of the WGN series Salem. The show is entirely fictional and loosely based on the events of the Salem witch trials of the 17th century. It follows the story of Mary Walton, a young woman who is deeply in love with a man by the name of John Alden. Before they could leave Salem together and escape the grasp of the strict Puritan rule, John is sent to fight in the war against the Indians, separating the two from each other. Alone and pregnant with John's child, Mary ends up offering her unborn son to the Devil to avoid persecution and ridicule from the townspeople for having relations without being married. As a result her soul now belongs to the Devil and she is destined to become a witch.

She marries the head of the town George Sibley and becomes Mrs. Sibley, the most powerful woman in Salem. She then hexes her husband by putting her frog familiar down his throat, making him incapable of speech. In his silence she rules in his stead and influences the witch trials in the witches favor. Along the way she also has to deal with the other witches that live in Salem, including the ones that are trying to overthrow her as leader of the witches.

The show is all good fun and offers a unique take on the events that took place in Salem during that time. There's plenty of bloody and grotesque situations that arise as witches mercilessly use the Puritans to do their bidding, including killing one another. Salem is marvelously macabre and definitely not for those with weak stomachs or who get squeamish easily. Not to mention some of the great backstabbing situations that occur among the witches, including some magical duels that would put Harry Potter to shame.

If you like brutal violence and sex scenes then Salem may be the show for you. I would put it in the same category as Game of Thrones. Also if you're a fan of witches and exorcism type horror.

The first two seasons of Salem are available to stream on Netflix and contain 13 episodes each. Season 3 will premiere on Wednesday, November 2nd on WGN.



    

A Link Between Worlds rekindles my love of portable Legend of Zelda titles

As I approach my 30^th year on this planet, the time I set aside for gaming has rapidly declined. Long gone are the days where I would spend hours fully completing games and uncovering every possible secret within the highly imaginative game worlds I grew to love over the years. Growing up, the Legend of Zelda titles were among some of my favorite, particularly the portable ones. The first and only system that I could call my own at the time was a kiwi Game Boy Color. I knew what the Zelda game series was, but I had never completed any of the games, mostly because I didn’t own any of them, but that all changed when I got Oracle of Seasons one fateful summer. 

Seasons took Link and I to the land of Holodrum, which we explored every day that summer. We met a dancer in a red outfit by the name of Din and were told by the Maku Tree to find the 8 Essences of Nature. Link and I had many different experiences as we journeyed further into Holodrum, including riding in the pouch of a Kangaroo, finding new rings to equip that strengthened us and gave us new abilities, and even changing our environments at will with the Rod of Seasons. I loved this ability as it changed the landscapes significantly and opened new paths on the World Map. 

Shortly after completing Seasons, I linked my save file with my brother’s copy of Oracle of Ages (password system and all) and completed the game fully. It was then that I moved onto playing Link’s Awakening DX (also my brother’s game), and completing it, loving every minute of the game.

As I was finishing up High School and heading into college I didn’t have a Game Boy Advance so I didn’t experience another portable Zelda game for awhile. Fast forward to a few years ago and I received A Link Between Worlds as a Christmas gift for my brother. It wasn’t until recently that I had begun playing it again seriously. Am I glad I did!

A Link Between Worlds reminds me of why I loved Legend of Zelda games on the go. The top-down view of Link as he explores is classic Zelda action at its best and as I go further through the game each dungeon I encounter is more intuitive than the last. The wall merging gameplay as a hieroglyphic version of Link is great and opens up so many new possibilities for puzzle-solving, some that I have to do a little more thinking than usual to complete. The graphics of A Link Between Worlds are also superb and some of the best I’ve ever seen on a portable Zelda title (not including the remakes of Ocarina and Majora!). The music and sound effects also do a great job of engrossing me into the game and into the lands of Hyrule and Lorule. As I continue to play A Link Between Worlds, I can honestly say that I haven’t been this excited to get through a game in a looong time. I can’t wait to get to the end and see all of what the game has to offer. 

I only talk about a few of the portable Legend of Zelda titles in this post, but what is YOUR favorite portable Zelda game?? The main ones in the series I missed out on were The Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Which one should I play next and why? 

Or do you like the Console Zelda titles better? If so which one of those is your favorite?

Mighty No. 9 Boss Strategies

Credit: Availation via Deviant Art

Mighty No. 9 is one of those games that a lot of people don't have the patience for. I dunno about you fellow gamer, but back when I was a kid in the 90s, we rarely complained about the games with glitches in them. As kids we were just happy to have a video game to play in the first place, so we sucked it up. There were obstacles that were placed between us and the completion of our game and we did whatever we could to get past them. The most noticeable of these during the NES era were hiccups in movement and other periods of slowdown when a game had too much going on, such as too many bullets or enemies on-screen. Unfortunately for the backers of Mighty No. 9 and anyone else willing to try the game out, these same problems exist in an era where every gamer expects every aspect of a game to be perfect and Mighty No. 9 is about as far from perfect as you can get. So to help with your enjoyment of the game I have comprised a list of tips on how you can better enjoy it, as well as boss strategies and an order in which to play them to minimize your death count and frustration with the game. Let's begin! Here are some things you can change in the options menu to already make Mighty No. 9 exponentially better. 

1. Go to General Options, Audio and turn Retro BGM On.
   This instantly changes the in-game music from forgettable to an awesome 8-bit kickin tune!
   
   
2. Go to General Options, Audio and change Voices to either Japanese or French.
   The English voice acting in this game is bad. Japanese provides a more authentic anime feel, while French provides for some audio that will make you laugh as you play.
   
   
3. Go to General Options, Video and turn Bloom Off.
   Not sure how much this affects the slowdown, but it's advised especially for the Wii U version.
4. Don't set your expectations too high!
   This is not the newest Mega Man with badass graphics and insanely tight gameplay. It is a decent Mega Man clone that I had some fun with.

Now onto the Boss order to maximize enjoyment! The first one to play is:

 

Mighty No. 7's stage, the Highway. It's a great intro level and provides some fun platforming to ease you into the game. Jumping from car to car is the perfect opportunity to learn how to use the dash jump effectively and to feel confident about the controls. Although some deaths might be had by mis-jumping and landing on the road, the stage is pretty easy to get through. Brandish is also one of the easiest boss fights in the game and can be taken out just fine with the standard blaster. 

The 2nd stage that should be played is Mighty No. 3's stage, the Power Plant.

Dynatron is one of the easier robot masters to face early on in the game. Her stage is one of the most straight-forward to take on despite the lights going off every few seconds in some parts. There's only one part of the stage that can be deemed annoying, which requires you to crouch dash (Dash while holding down) underneath two purple spinning wheels of death that will kill you instantly if you touch them. To get past this minor annoyance, inch up close enough to each wheel and you should be able to make the dash with no problem. The fight against Dyantron is pretty easy, especially if you have Mighty No. 7's power of Sword Slash, which makes her projectiles completely ineffective against you.

Next is Mighty No. 8's stage, the Capitol Building.

Mighty No. 8 has one of the worst stages of the bunch. Not overly difficult, just a pain to get through. This stage loops around from start to finish and you must “hunt” Countershade down by going in the direction of where his bullets are being shot from. Some annoying purple insta-death wires will be scattered throughout the stage, but besides that nothing else too pesky. After finding Countershade and shooting him 5 times he will transport the both of you to his boss room where you will fight. He can be taken down with little to no hassle as you avoid his shots, which he easily telegraphs (he will show you where they're going before he even fires!). Get behind him and blast away with the standard blaster. Halfway through the battle he'll create a clone of himself which is easy to distinguish from his real self. Easy boss, painful stage.

Fourth should be Mighty No. 5's stage, the Military Base. Battalion's stage is somewhere in the middle on the difficulty scale. There's nothing too crazy except for some crates that drop on conveyor belts and get in the way and some fire floor traps that will hurt you if you stand on them for too long. This stage can be made a lot easier with Mighty No. 2's ice power which lets you freeze enemies, including turrets that like to continuously fire upon you. The ice power-up can also be used to temporarily disable the fire traps. After reaching Battalion his fight isn't too difficult. Use your dash and effectively dodge him as you see which direction he's moving in. He does have a one hit kill bullet that he will shoot at you halfway through the fight, but it's easy to avoid. Using the ice power-up makes him laughably easy to defeat, but even without it Bat goes down easy.

Halfway through the Mighty Robot Masters and you've obtained the Battalion Blast power-up. This will make the remainder of the game a lot easier, as it's one of the most useful power-ups and can clear obstacles and defeat enemies quickly. Next is:

Mighty No. 4, Seismic 

The Mine is a difficult stage to navigate and it's even tougher without Mighty No. 5's Battalion Blast, I might even say impossible. By using the Battalion Blast Beck can destroy blocks of rubble that you normally couldn't clear with any other weapon. This makes the abundant purple death spike pits in this stage a little more tolerable by letting you avoid them easier. There's also a couple areas where a giant one hit kill drill (say that five times fast!) will be chasing you, making for some frantic escapes. This is one of the more difficult stages in the game, so be ready for multiple attempts as there's a lot of trial and error to successfully reach Seismic. With the Battalion Blast power-up this boss is a joke!

The sixth stage is none other than Mighty No. 1's Oil Platform.

   

The stage itself isn't too bad, but has oil slicked floors that can be set on fire, as well as falling towers that can one hit kill you. The worst part of the stage however is the boss fight against Pyrogen. The battle is extremely difficult if you can't read his tells. He also does an insane amount of damage if he hits you with one of his exploding attacks. The fire walls on either side of you as you battle also don't help. I suggest using the basic blaster against him and listening very closely to what he says if you want to know what type of attack he's doing. If you have the ice power-up from Mighty No. 2, his stage and the boss fight will be made a bit easier.

Second to last is Mighty No. 2's stage, the Water Works Bureau.

 

Cryosphere's stage isn't too difficult to get through, especially with Pyrosphere's fiery explosion power-up. There are some slippery floors and an underwater section which take some getting used to, but nothing that you can't handle now! Once you reach Cryo, her fight can be difficult if you don't know how to approach the small and pesky girl robot. She can freeze you with her freeze gun and if she's successful she will turn into a giant spiky ice ball (see above) and land on you doing massive damage. Breaking out of your ice prison after getting frozen isn't exactly easy either and will take some skilled button mashing to do so. With Pyrogen's power this fight is a lot more tolerable as you can knock her off her ice block tower very easily and damage her quickly. Even with the fiery explosion power-up, Cyrosphere can take you out quickly and effectively if you're not careful enough.

Lastly is Mighty No. 6's Radio Tower stage.

Aviator has the most difficult stage out of the 8 Mighty Nos. Being on a Radio Tower, this stage takes place in the air with wind current and all. Depending which way Beck is facing, he will either be restricted by the wind (making dashes imperative to land on platforms) or pushed easily in the right direction. This creates plenty of situations where falling off and instantly dying are a distinct possibility. The best part of this stage is the cool and well-thought out mid-level boss that has 3 different parts of the fight. After (hopefully) reaching the end of the stage you'll be met with Avi, a helicopter reporter robot. During the fight, him and his news camera will be present as well as more of those air currents you've now grown accustomed to dying so much from. Mighty No. 8's weapon makes the fight all the more easier as you can shoot your Sniper Shot into his news camera which will then reflect directly into Avi. Even so, a simple jumping error can have you plummeting to your death. Avi's rapid fire style of attack can also be an annoyance. Watching where he flies and the direction of his shots is the key to beating this pain in the butt. This stage easily wins the most attempts award.

So there you have it, my complete and comprehensive strategy guide on what order to tackle the bosses in Mighty No. 9. I hope you find it extremely useful and that it boosts your enjoyment of the game significantly. There are also a few other stages that come after you have beaten the 8 bosses, which I won't spoil for you. Happy runnin' and gunnin'!