Well, I spent forever playing yesterday, I just never ended up making it back home to do an update.
I've finally started making some progress! I was stuck for what seemed like ages in Norfair (and, to be fair, technically I still am stuck there) but I eventually went back to the wrecked ship again and found the Gravity Suit.
Best.
Suit.
Ever.
I was SO pumped when I found it, I ran straight back to Norfair to that room with the giant pit of lava, only to find that the Gravity Suit didn't give me a stinkin' bit of help. I'm still stumped as to what to do in that room. So I decided to say screw it and go explore in the other direction for a while.
The boss on the wrecked ship freaked me out. It's a crazy demon ghost eye brain monster, and it spits blue fire. I took quite a bit of damage, but I still took it out on the first try relatively easily. Once I figured out how simple it was to just stand in place and shoot the fire that came near me I stopped getting hit for the most part. He does move pretty freakin' fast once you put some damage on him, though, and with the missiles it can be easy to miss his eye sometimes. It was the best feeling ever when I found him, because it was the first moment in about 1.5-2 hours of gameplay where I felt like I had advanced forward in the game at all.
I searched around the ship as best I could, and got a couple secrets outside in the Crateria area, and then headed on toward Maridia. It's an interesting place. There's lots of...quicksand. I haven't gotten the chance to explore it very thoroughly, yet. I've found the map, but the first time I passed through I accidentally went through a gate to Brinstar that I couldn't come back through, so I had to run a lap around the world again to get back, and by that point my motivation was shot.
So, this is where I stand in Norfair. I have 95% of the map explored. I just have the tiny little bit down in the corner where the boss is, and the room with the big lava pit and that huge mouth that serves as a door which I can't get to, and this one other hallway. I found it by going through a hidden morph ball tunnel at the top of a shaft-type room, but it just leads to a dead end where I can't go any farther. There are blocks in the way and the only way through them is to stand on them and let them disappear from underneath, but you can only get on top of them from the other side of the wall. So I spent probably a good half hour trying to find out how to reach the other end of that hallway, but couldn't find any leads anywhere.
I'm starting to doubt whether or not I'm supposed to find the Norfair boss yet (don't tell me).
Oh, and another random comment. I'm surprised at how many missiles you can carry. I was fully expecting that to cap out at 100, but it just kept right on going.
Status:
Missiles: 115
Super Missiles: 25
Power Bombs: 30
Energy Tanks found: 8
Powerups: Morph Ball, Morph Ball Bomb, Charge Shot, Hi Jump Boots, Varia Suit, Speed Booster, Ice Beam, Wave Beam, Spazer, Grapple Beam, X-Ray Scope, Reserve Tank (x2), Gravity Suit
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I hate all ugly people, regardless of gender. ~ thundersheep