Hey everybody, it's Freezair For A Limited Time! ...Stolen catchphrases aside. In our previous episode, we rescued Shades the ghost from his amnesiac fate! In this episode, we take him out to play!
As Bop-Louie so subtly hinted at, Shades' deal (besides his "I am frackin' boss" sunglasses) is that he can jump higher than the other characters, followed by him lazily drifting to the ground. Is it because he's a ghost? Or is it because his hat has wings? Either way, we can now make a number of jumps we couldn't before. Shades is also just generally useful as a utility character, since his floatiness gives him a bit more leeway in tight jumps.
Let's head back to the cliffside that leads to the mine, since we know there's a couple very obvious spots there where we can make use of this.
(Also, if you're wondering why the health discrepancy, I let myself die back in the mines and trekked back to get the medicine again. Unfortunately, I lost a bit more than I hoped because I accidentally fell down the hole again when I returned to the cave, and had to make the journey back here all over again.)
Can you say, "suck it, edgehog?" Shades gets his revenge!
This place is the most obvious first choice, given that it's got treasure in it and it's a short little cave. (I have no idea what's happening to that waddler over there in the corner.)
This jump is a piece of cake when your name's Shades. Treasure, here I come!
Looks like it's time to hammer in the morning! And the evening! Hammerin' out love between... OK sorry. Actually, now that I think about it, double sorry.
In contrast to Bop-Louie's maddening Secret Weapon, Shades' extra attack is a weapon with a perfectly logical and expected use. Sanity in Ufouria! Who'da thunk it?
Let's give it a try!
Shades readies his strike!
...Wat
What
Okay seriously game WHAT THE HELL.
It is a hammer. Unlike a star, which is cutesy and videogame-y, a hammer is something you can actually hurt people with in real life.* But no. Instead of a hammer that smacks enemies over the head, we get a hammer with which to smack ourselves over the head so our eyeballs go flying out and knock off enemies.
In all seriousness, it's a decently useful weapon. Since Shades has heat-seeking eyeballs (only in descriptions of Ufouria will you read that sentence), it flies right to the enemies regardless of where on-screen they are, and can take out multiple enemies at once. Strangely, both our page on the game and the only guide on Game FA Qs both rag on this power, but aside from being weird enough to make your eyeballs go flying out of your head, it's actually not too shabby.
Like so.
Sigh. Let's press forward—in the hopes that maybe we'll find a secret power somewhere that doesn't involve dismemberment.
This jump is quite trivial for Shades, who can now go harrass that clown to his heart's content.
Also, this is a normal rope. Yeah, I know. I'm shocked too. Still, every second spent not climbing drool is a second less to spend in the shower later!
But alas, we are not so lucky in our second ascention.
This particular area marks the first time in the game where we really have our pick of places to go. There's a rope above us that looks exciting (and it's stationary, so it's probably NOT made out of spit), but the wild expanse to the East calls us. We don't actually have time to explore them both, but, seeing as I'm "curious" (read: I know what's going to happen), we're going to travel on foot for the time being.
East does not immediately seem exciting.
But it does provide ample swimming oppertunities for Freeon!
This pool has fish in it! Or rather, if that mouth is any indication, people in fish costumes. Because regular fish are too normal. I imagine it would probably hurt us if we weren't swimming, oh, two feet above it.
Another underwater passage, and another day's exploration mapped out.
A second frog statue attempts to impede our progress, but Freeon is so not having any of that. In fact, she's so so not having any of it, she stomps those baby froggies in mid-air.
But what lies beyond this toady toll gate?
Well, this doesn't look pleasant. After all, you know what they say: Deaths come in trees!
The trees are kind of a confusing area. There's a lot of jumping around and over things, and at the current point in time, getting from one side of this place to another is kind of a trip. However, a decidedly nonspecific something we'll find in the near future helps alleviate the strain of our visits here.
Our first new enemy of the area: Motion-sensing eggs that pop up into baby birds as soon as something appears overhead. If you're not prepared for them, they will get you. They also, like the waddlers, just love to monopolize small ledges.
We also meet our second new enemy in short order: An, um, this thing.
Whatever. We've got places to do, things to go and stuff to see!
Shades languidly drifts between a group of eggs, taking out each one in kind without ever touching the floor.
Still not touching the floor—he's playing the "hot lava" game from kindergarten, only he's kinda stressy about it since he got stuck in the mine and the floor kinda was hot lava there.
This is where things start to get a little confusing.
Tumbling down from those ledges results in landing in the water—I guess they're mangrove trees. Shades' family tree does not include the Flying Dutchman, so he is no more aquadynamic than Bop-Louie is.
So it's up to Freeon to take us to solid ground.
Back on dry land, things get hairier (or would that be shell-i-er?) as the leaping eggs start resting on smaller and smaller platforms.
i c wut u did, bear.
In the most violent fashion possible.
How convenient of those tree branches to line up perfectly with the cliffside. What awaits?
Another ledge?
And more falling. I think we've had a long fall in every installment of this LP so far. What is with me and deciding to LP works that are weirdly regular about weird things?
Not shown in this picture: The crow I callously concussioned mere moments before.
There's a path back on the ground, but in the other direction lies...
Lots of slimes, and a lot of ledge. Screw this; we're going back.
Gotta love how one frame of this attack animation has Shades looking totally blase about everything. "Yeah, I'm using my own eyeballs as a guided projectile. Just another day in Ufouria." We drop down after our ursine obstruction is knocked out.
Another egg monster? Given how annoying the other ones are, that one is probably better off avoided.
Beyond that original exit, the tree gets narrower higher up.
And, um, this happens. Yes, that is a crawler scratching around on nothingness up there in the corner. It's an NES game; glitches happen.
There's also another, somewhat more... dramatic glitch I've discovered in this game, but that's later on. Still, purely for demonstration purposes, I'll see if I can get it to trigger.
Well well well! There are birds living in this tree. It's about miniboss size, but the lack of walls here to pin me in suggests that this creature is friendly. Howdy, sir/ma'am!
...Oh. Guess that polka-dot egg was important after all.
Guess we've got to take Junior here back to his mama. The only way we know how.
This here segment is kind of an Escort Mission, although it isn't quite as annoying as most of its kin. Because you have to carry the egg, you're locked out of using headballs or secret weapons on the enemies in the area. Not much good on the eggshell birds, because their eggs make them immune to that stuff. But for the crawlers and reproachful wall-climbing bears, not being able to use that stuff is a huge pain.
Upside: If you get hurt and are forced to drop the egg (as happened in these screenshots), you are more than welcome to lay a head-mace or Tomahawk-eyes on their behinds.
Mama Bird is so grateful, she offers us a ride to "the other side." Presumably, the other side of the steep cliff we found earlier.
Although I'm a bit curious as to how you intend to take us there, ma'am, as your wings are rather small, and you also seem to lack a mini-van (the stereotypical mom vehicle of choice). ...Ma'am.
....Um.
The... the last time I found something white I could climb on, it was coming from someone's mouth and it was drool. That's coming from... uh...
...Yeah.
We're delaying the inevitable. Byfornowguys! *zoom! zip! vroom! exit stage left!*
In the next installment, no amount of soap will ever be enough. Too bad the water's in short supply.
- Characters updated!
- Enemies updated!
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