RGR Game #015: Ikari no Yousai 2

Sorry, no Sound Boy this time.

My bullets are bigger than my head!

Welcome back to the continued adventures of Masato and Mizuki in Ikari no Yousai 2, the Japan-only sequel to my previous game, Fortified Zone. It looks like the enemy has risen once again, so our heroes have answered the call and begun a new infiltration mission. Either that, or this is a brand new enemy with its own set of high-tech gadgets. It's kind of hard to tell.

As expected, the game looks and plays similarly to the first, though I noticed a few differences early on. First, there are no enemy weapons to commandeer this time around, and the three weapons available (machine gun, three-way gun, and grenade launcher) can be used equally well by Masato and Mizuki. Mizuki remains the only one who can jump, making Masato's only advantage his longer health bar (and there are no items to extend that bar this time). The sprites are a little smaller than in the first game, and both soldiers have gained the ability to walk and shoot diagonally, making them 100% more effective marksmen.

However, the one major change that I'm finding I don't like... medpacks aren't collectible. This time, they only heal your current injuries. So at any given time, you've got Masato's one life bar, and Mizuki's, and that's it. I beat the first game without ever losing either soldier, but that's not happening in this game.

Oh, and once again, I don't know the bosses' names, if they even have names.

They're back, and more alike this time!

What is this, a printing press?

Stairs? In stage 1? Oh boy.

The giant plasma ball beckons...

Stage one, the Laboratory stage, is full of robots from the get-go, with only a few humans to be found. The map layout, though restricted to a 4x5 grid, was more complex than the early parts of the previous game. Instead of open rooms connected by doorways in the cardinal directions, rooms were divided into smaller corridors, and these divisions made finding the right paths to the keys trickier. The whole thing felt much more like a maze, and the very first stage had two floors!

I hadn't even managed to take every path I found, though, before I happened upon a room that housed what looked like a giant plasma ball. It didn't do anything; it just sat there, begging me to destroy it. And destroy it I did; as soon as the smoke cleared from the explosion, an alarm sounded, and I found myself confronting the first boss.

First Boss: Artillery Mech

The first boss was a four-legged assault tank, though it never took a step. I guess it had to lock its legs and brace itself to fire its six large cannons simultaneously. After firing a couple of volleys from the cannons, the mech would open its obvious weak point, an energy-emitting orb that could launch several energy bolts in succession like a machine gun. But it was able to fire them DIRECTLY AT ME. They moved no faster than any other projectile in the game, so they weren't too difficult to dodge.

The pattern was simple enough: stay to one side, wait for the cannons to stop firing, then run in and get a couple of shots in on the orb before it began firing. Then run to the other side and up to dodge the shots, and wait for the next opening. It was nice to see a boss that had some challenge to it, but I had no problem bringing the mech down.

I think I'm in the danger zone.

You can't beat me if you don't move around.

Ooh, I've had grenades the whole time!

But this guy does too.

Next up was stage two, which I think was called the Factory stage. There were some subtle changes in the floor and wall patterns to make everything seem less high-tech, and more industrial. A couple of new enemies were added as well, like a heavily armored robot with a grenade launcher that could withstand several direct grenade hits. The layout was again mazelike and tricky, but I eventually found and destroyed the plasma ball, and was again taken to the boss.

Second Boss: Rail Tank

My first attempt to fight this thing ended disastrously, with Masato falling within seconds, and Mizuki not faring much better. The tank was surprisingly quick for something so large, and while darting back and forth at the top of the screen, it continuously fired missiles from two of its turrets. That was bad enough, but the center machine gun turret then began firing rapidly, and directly at me once again.

My second attempt was more successful, mainly due to luck, with a little help from my trusty grenade launcher. The tank doesn't have a single weak point, instead taking damage at just about any point. So I weaved between missiles, took a few machine gun rounds, and fed it grenades at every opportunity. It didn't seem to take all that much damage before it started to fill the screen with explosions.

AGHAGHAGHAGHAGH!!!

Phew... second time's a charm.

B1? Don't tell me there are 3 floors...

That's an awfully narrow hole.

Stage three, the Shelter stage, had me a little worried when I noticed I had started in the basement rather than the first floor. I expected at least three floors, but it turns out the whole thing is underground. So only two floors. Phew.

The walls were mostly solid rock and dirt, typical of an underground cavern. There were a significant number of holes in the ground on the upper level, many of which had to be explored in order to gain access to certain rooms on the floor below. I spent quite some time trying to figure out where to go next, as several rooms had trick walls, and I hadn't managed to find every one of them. The little pause screen map helped me find it, though, along with the plasma ball and boss.

Third Boss: Heavy Walker Mark II

I kind of wish that was its actual name. This walker was a bit quicker than the one from the previous game, and also much more dangerous. It would fire 8 missiles in succession from each of its shoulder-mounted missile launchers, and then reveal its energy-emitting sphere. At this point, it would begin firing energy bolts much like the boss in the Laboratory stage, but would walk forward while doing so. Once it reached the bottom of the screen, it would pause for a moment, and then back up while firing more energy bolts. Once it reached its original position, it would prepare to fire more missiles.

Because of its size, I had to dodge the walker and its energy bolts as it walked forward, causing me to do several laps around the screen. I could usually get in one or two grenades before I had to get out of its path, and another once I got behind it (the energy sphere was its weak point, if you couldn't tell). I got a bit cocky a couple of times and tried to pull off fancy diagonal shots across its legs, and I paid for it by taking a couple of unnecessary hits from the energy bolts, but it wasn't enough to prevent me from destroying the walker.

Is someone a fan of Metal Gear?

Good thing I can walk in all directions.

Stage four. The Fortress stage. I'm assuming it's the final stage, but I haven't beaten it yet. Three floors, powerful enemies, and lots and lots of backtracking. This stage is much longer than the previous stages, and much tougher. Most of my time was spent tracking down one enemy, whose destruction triggers a door somewhere else to open, and then taking the winding path to that newly-opened door in order to do it again in another spot. After what seemed like forever, my path finally dead-ended in a little room with a little hole, and inside that little hole was the plasma ball, and then the boss.

Final(?) Boss: Hovercraft

Just what I need; a huge boss that can move in all four directions. Masato was already dead by the time I reached the boss, so it was up to Mizuki to take it out. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for the sudden and unforgiving onslaught. It began moving down toward me, firing its machine gun to keep me on the move. I was hoping it wouldn't be able to reach the bottom of the screen, but I was wrong. It pinned me down, and instantly killed Mizuki.

That thing's a regular enemy!

This might hurt a little.

Yeah, let's try again later.

It was pretty frustrating to die at the boss after spending so much time figuring out the incredibly complex stage, but I've got my password at the ready.

To be continued...