Continuation of this post.

This entry is part 2 of my "Metroid and graph paper" posts, and below is part 3 of the narration of my playthrough, continued from part 1 of the post series. Got it?

My Playthrough, part 3:



Armed with the knowledge that the Ice Beam is under a hallway in Brinstar, I went over there and started bombing. There’s a pit with nothing under one, and the Ice Beam under the other. It’s glorious! Now I can see the rest of the game that has eluded me all this time. I set about to all the locations on the map that need the Ice Beam to progress further. I discovered the shaft on the right end of Brinstar requires the High Jump Boots to move up it, so I headed to Norfair.


Missiles, Missiles, and more Missiles.

At the right side of Norfair are 5 Missile upgrades and a duplicate Ice Beam. This is going to be a high priority area in a timed playthough if I need Missile capacity. I finish exploring Norfair and find 2 more Missile upgrades. I can’t help but feel I’m missing something here. I’ll probably be back later. Back to Kraid’s Hideout. I was assuming I’d have found more Energy Tanks or the Varia Suit to deal with that area.


My new path led here.

It’s a very bad idea to go to Kraid’s Hideout before getting the Ice Beam. The respawing enemies make it very difficult to deal with the other ones on the screen, but if you freeze them you can take all the time you want. Now it’s not a big deal to keep my energy reserves up, I can farm the bigger enemies and get the larger energy pickups. So I know it’s Brinstar -> Norfair -> Kraid’s Hideout. I swept through the area I now had access to, and at the bottom I found something promising. Is it time to fight Kraid?


Lame.

Wow… the first time I entered the room Kraid’s attacks knock me into the little pit on the right. My energy slowly drained to zero as I tried and freeze the claws he fires to use as a bridge. I couldn’t get out, I don’t think you can jump that high, or maybe I was panicked. While I was down there I discovered an Energy Tank, but I couldn’t figure out how to pick it up. I dusted myself off, spent a couple minutes filling my tanks and ammo back up, and tried again.


Punk.

Kraid fires spikes to damage you and absorb your attacks, but if you freeze them in midair he loses his protection and you get to blast him. I emerged victorious, and was rewarded with +75 Missile capacity. I only had 19 energy afterwards, I need to get better at fighting him for timed runs. I should also figure out exactly how many Missiles I need so I know which capacity upgrades I can skip. My meter read 119 Missiles left, and my new capacity was 150, so 7 upgrades will do it if I don’t miss.


Two screens up and one right of Kraid's lair is a one-way door I haven't been through.

I didn’t have the energy to figure out how to get that Energy Tank, so I’d have to come back later. I wound up getting killed on the way out, another cheap Hopper positioning on the other side of a door. I’ve explored all the dead ends again and didn’t get any new abilities. And there’s still a one-way door that I haven’t found the other side of. Is there a way to get up that shaft on the right end of Brinstar, or is there a power up at the Kraid statue?


Before and after.

The Kraid statue could be raised, but it probably doesn’t mean anything without killing Ridley. So I headed back to the right end of Brinstar to see if I missed the way up. It turned out I couldn’t see anything new, and I’ve explored all the avenues I have open. I’m missing something, somewhere. The most promising lead is the one-way door back in Kraid’s Hideout I still haven’t been through. I’ll investigate that area later.

After death 13, day 10: Morph Ball, Bombs, Long Beam, Ice Beam, 150 Missiles, 2 Energy Tanks, Kraid down.

If you want to see a higher res image of the map so far, it's in the gallery. The playthrough is continued here.