Gargoyle's Pest - Episode 6: Time's Arrow
Published 2024-06-04
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Well, I definitely didn't see this one coming.
When I failed to clear the first loop and get a head start on the second last time, I decided that this was obviously going to take at least three streams. But I came way closer this time than I was expecting. Like, way, WAY closer. I managed to literally complete an entire loop in this session. Hell, if I had the next day off, I probably could've gone all the way.
Honestly, beating the first loop's final stage was pretty much assured, considering I almost managed to make it last time... before the game decided to cheat me at the very end with a sneak attack. Either way, I knew exactly what to do, so tackling it wasn't really ever in any doubt. It's honestly what awaited me afterwards -- the dreaded second loop -- that worried me. And for the first level, that held true. Stage 1-1 ramped up its enemy rate significantly, reminding me in graphic detail of just how much early SNES games failed to optimize for slowdown.
But then, something amazing happened: the rest of the loop was WAY easier. Like, to an obscene degree. Like, at best, I was hoping to clear Stage 3 this time -- and was more than willing to take making it to the checkpoint in that level as an acceptable stopping point. But I still had enough time to keep going when I made it to Stage 4. And the same thing happened with Stage 5. And again with Stage 6! I literally cleared an entire loop during one of my Sunday sessions... despite failing to do so the previous Thursday, which afforded me way more time.
While KI warned me that the second loop would boost the difficulty up to the next setting, they also mentioned that having prior experience with all of those levels should more than compensate for it. I'm not going to say that I just didn't outright believe them, but I'm just impressed by how much knowing what's ahead made the levels easier. It's not like I haven't seen other people play SGnG before, but it's almost like the muscle memory never had a chance to fade. Seriously, I'm still shocked that Stage 1-1 was really the only part that got significantly harder. Hell, I even managed to make it to the second boss with the gold armor, which made it a cakewalk.
I'm still not willing to count my chickens before they hatch, but I think it's safe to say that the next stream will be the final one for Gargoyle's Pest. After all, win or lose, I think I've hit the end point. I either beat the game or spend an entire stream struggling against a single stage, just like I did with Ghosts 'n Goblins. There's really no possible outcome where another session will do any good. KI has warned me that the final stage of the second loop will likely be the most difficult challenge of the batch, mainly due to the fact that the Goddess Bracelet is another lame-o "key weapon" in the same vein as the Shield/Cross and the Psycho Cannon. But while the Psycho Cannon compensated for its pitiful standard range by hitting like a truck, all of the footage I've seen for the Goddess Braclet tells a more disappointing tale regarding its damage output.
KI's suggested course of action is to make it to the boss "at full strength" and that if I take a hit before clearing a safe path to the boss, I should just abandon that life and start over. The homing arrow does make things way easier and I've essentially memorized the locations of every chest I'll need. That just means doing a "perfect run" until I reach the stage bosses. KI has also given me the go-ahead to reuse my current interrupt save to recover the arrow on any failed attempts, since I'm basically at a point where I can keep grabbing continues perpetually, so there's really little real chance of a game over. Personally, I'd like to avoid that, just to add another layer of legitimacy to this playthrough. Granted, the GBA re-release does add a similar functionality to it, which is why I considered using it as a back-up option if things didn't turn out okay with the SNES version. Of course, it looks like that version doesn't let you adjust the number of lives you have per continue, while maintaining the limited continues... so there still would've been a trade-off.
Either way, I can't wait to see how things shake out next time.