Some favorite things about Vector Man

I've only played this game on the PSP.  I could never get into it while I had the SEGA Genesis and was on a Sonic-only diet in terms of that game console.  After some experience playing it, though, I have some favorite things about the Vector Man video game:

• I like he way I try to make Vector Man go against a wall, and he puts his elbow against the wall and leans against it.  He's looking at the player (me) as if to say, "I can't go through that wall.  You have to make me do something else."  And then he throws some of his orbs up in the air, catches them, and then looks at me again, appearing very annoyed.  Nyaw. (I want to find a picture of that, but it's not so easy.)
• I like how I can make Vector Man shoot right, left, straight upward and even diagonally at his enemies.  It's so fun that way.  It also makes fighting bosses easier.
• I keep thinking he's a robot.  Of course, he is called an "Orb-Bot" according to GiantBomb.com here (as well as what the little in-game story's prelude includes).
• The little cry he makes when he loses a life (it sounds funny).
• Collecting those little white circles is fun!!!
• Why is he green?????  (Idea: he is eco-effective for the ruined planet he is trying to help clean up?)

VECTOR MAN on Feb. 25th

I returned to Vector Man from the SEGA Genesis Collection.  There were good results: I was able to get passed that train track level. I finally realized that Vector Man can still shoot while he is shaped like a train.  I was only jumping, avoiding the big robot’s hands.  But the controls screen reminded me that the square button and circle button both are the shooting actions.  So I tried it out, and it seemed like I was supposed to defeat that big metal thing within one minute by shooting at it.  Vector Man could shoot forward or to the left and the right in this train form (I love it when I figure things out on my own :] ).  I failed several times before I was able to defeat that, uh…boss?  So then the next level was called Tidal Surge (or Day 3) and that was sort of a fun level.  Vector Man got this ability that allowed him to swim, if only for a few moments.

     Oops, I forgot if I had a boss fight in that level. Damn, shoulda recorded some notes.  I remember the level names only because I reviewed my Saved Data Utility.

     The next level was an underwater one.  Vector Man had to keep jumping up to the top and shooting those brown things floating with a chain.  Those little white ball/circle objects, I try to collect as many of them as I can, because it gets me points.  Sometimes I’d miss a platform and then Vector Man would fall down, down, down and then I went Darn, he has to jump back up there again.  When I did get to the top, there was a power-up box that made Vector Man into a rocket that took him out of the water.  There ended up being two short boss fights.  As always, I wanted to keep some extra lives, so whenever I lost two lives, I reloaded the file.  The first boss was some sort of Pterodactyl, plane-like thing, and then the next one was some mechanical polar bear, which was more difficult to defeat.  Its attacks were not hard to avoid if I can see where the hell it’s shooting those little orange energy, uh, balls.

     The next level, the Arctic Surge, is fun, but it is easy to get lost. I like the graphics for this level too; lots of ice and water. That is the level I am stuck at now. It was this big mechanical guardian of a sort. It destroyed Vector Man over and over again, and the battery power was low on my PSP, so I had to give the game (and my right thumb) a rest. My thumb, there was so much button mashing in terms of Vector Man shooting (for the recent Mega Man X play, the button mashing came from making X jump all the time avoiding boss attacks =P ) .

Back to SEGA Genesis Collection: Phantasy Star II and Vector Man

Ah, it actually feels good to take a break from Dissidia and Crisis Core, as cool and fun as those games are. I only had 37 % battery power left on the PSP, as my unit indicated. I'd want to play either of the two games of Square-Enix goodness if I had at least 50% battery power in there.  It was too soon to recharge, so I returned to the SEGA Genesis Collection to see what I can try out. I’ve wanted to start Phantasy Star II.  I started around 9:45pm. I learned that there is a narration in this story and that Rolf, the main character, is the narrator, a first person narration. Interesting. You know, I was given a chance to name my hero, and I wanted to name him Gilmur, just a made up stupid heroic-sounding name, but it turned out that only four letters would fit, and he ended up being named GILR. 0_____O Yikes, but I let it go because it would look funny during the conversations. Ha ha. Gilr. Funnnnny.

     Everyone’s name in that game is between three to five letters. It took me awhile, but I got Nei a steel bar as a weapon for 80 meseta, but I didn’t equip it (cuz I didn’t know how to until later), and then I did equip her with the steel bar and she proved herself useful in battle.  Oh, the battle.  The battles (random ones, mind you) are hideous and frustrating!!  I have no idea what is happening until Gilr loses HP.  Gosh, it is hard to make commands in this game.  Battles much easier in Final Fantasy VII.  I kinda half-panicked.  And then Gilr lost all his HP D:

"GILR is dead!"     What?  Dead?  Not KOed?  (Or pwned...? whatever that means...)

"Nei and friends run away…but they’re trapped!"

     There are places called Clone Labs in this game.  I wasn’t sure what they were for, but then I found out they brought back dead party members to life. Oooooh kay. I am too used to Final Fantasy, but little by little I figure out what to do.  It's not quite a Phoenix Down.  But it will have to do, for a price, of course.

Does the GILR clone retain any memories or anything?  Keep the same personality?  o.0 

Vector Man... I forgot how fun it is to play Vector Man.  Even though I was stuck for a while on the second level, I tried a different strategy because I know there is a way to get out of there.  Vector Man is a train in this level, and he has to avoid getting crushed by this big machine/robot that is climbing the tracks trying to destroy Vector Man.  I tried to jump and avoid the big machine/robot’s hands and move back and forth to slow down or go faster. The maneuvers are improving, and also I have to avoid those fire ball cannon thingies.

     I never passed that level, but I'll keep trying.  If I wasn't on a Sonic-Only diet during my SEGA Genesis days, I think I would have enjoyed playing Vector Man on a TV screen.  It looks great for an old game.  Ristar too.  Even Sparkster for the Genesis.  But apparently Sparkster wasn't good enough to be in the SEGA Genesis Collection.  Pooh.