The Stack

I’ve been backtracking a bit. Whether it’s through improved flying skills, or greater knowledge of effective tactics, or just having access to all the Special Items now, I’ve managed to pass level 4 on Normal difficulty, with the result that I can start Normal games at level 5 from now on. I’ve also tried restarting from the very beginning on Easy. There are advantages to this: by the time you reach the later levels, you’ve got an inventory full of weapons and items that you wouldn’t have if you started there. Also, you gain an extra life every time you clear a level, but this is only a net advantage if you’re not dying more than once per level. There’s definitely a pivot point around level 10 where my lives stop going up and start going down.

In both Easy and Norma, though, I still wonder: Am I missing out? It really seems like the most effective way to beat a level is to not face the Sinistar at all, but rather, keep the gate from ever being completed. This means spending enough time on each level to run out the clock, and devoting a substantial portion of that time to hunting worker drones instead of fighting the things hunting you. Surviving this is nontrivial. But at least it’s a skill that transfers easily from one level to the next. In contrast, each Sinistar is different, and not just in appearance. There are definitely Sinistars that are only hurt by bombs that hit them in specific vulnerable spots — the resemblance to shellfish of various sorts is kind of a hint about this. I think I’ve even seen one whose shell only opens to reveal the vulnerable spot some of the time, possibly in response to player actions. And you have to figure this stuff out while in extreme danger — especially difficult because most of the time, if there’s a Sinistar around, I’m running away from it, which means it’s behind me where I can’t see it. It’s markedly different from the original arcade game, where you could just spam the bomb button while fleeing and the bombs would home in on where they needed to go.

The point is, battling all these various Sinistars is a significant part of the design of the game, and it’s one that I’ve been avoiding where possible. There are Sinistars that I’ve passed by without ever seeing them, and others that I’ve seen but have no idea how to defeat. Maybe I should do a pass where I just leave the worker drones alone, let them complete the gates and figure out how to fight the Sinistars from the easiest onwards. Maybe I’ll be better trained to defeat the Sinistars past level 12, when they show up because I couldn’t delay gate completion enough, if I know how to defeat all the other ones up to that point.