Quick Tips November 2021

Mega Man 6 (NES)

gameid: 1485
achid: 10966
Tip by: Bendyhuman

Defeating Tomahawk Man without taking any damage is certainly the toughest part of mastering Mega Man 6. You may be tempted to keep your distance and slide under his attacks, but this often results in you getting cornered when he jumps toward you. Instead, I found it more effective to keep close to him and rhythmically jump over his attacks. You can squeeze in a single hit with the Plant Barrier immediately following each dodge, which will take him down in no time. For a slower but safer strategy, you may want to consider using the POW suit, as each fully charged attack will knock him back a bit, preventing you from getting cornered. If all else fails, don't be afraid to pause and switch to the JET suit for some handy repositioning.

Mega Man Powered Up (PlayStation Portable)

gameid: 3582
achid: 172636
Tip by: Olafur

During his first phase, just keep hitting him with Fire Storm as normal, it's no problem. For the second phase, listen closely to the "BWEEPS" as he charges up his cannon. The sound will play 7 times before he fires. Count them to yourself, whether out loud, or in your mind and as soon as you say "six", and jump as high as you can. The timing can be tricky at first, but if you manage to get it down, you should be able to dodge every single time.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PlayStation Portable)

gameid: 3732
achid: 171324 171335
Tip by: BahamutVoid

It can be very frustrating not knowing if you have met the requirements for the Guild Card Awards or not. However, you might not know that you unlock Titles for doing minor tasks in the game, and some of these are parts of larger Awards. So if you're trying to unlock the 'Hunter's Miracle' Award you should check to see how many titles you have for beating the Old maps 20 times, if the only one you're missing is Old Swamp then that's where you need to go! This works for others like the 'Wyverian Artisan's Hammer' Award for knowing which weapon titles you're still missing; I personally was still missing 'Light Bowgun' because the game didn't consider some of mine rare enough to count, so I ended up making 4 more than I apparently needed. I hope this alleviates some frustration from not knowing!

Homebrew Cave Story MD (Mega Drive)

gameid: 13943
achid: 157124
Tip by: Dimedime

First of all, you'll want to turn on CS+ speed in the Config menu. The timer seems just a bit more lenient with this option enabled. Second of all, the Spur is by far the easiest weapon to run this with. You don't have to spend time collecting EXP to level it up. Even better, in this port, the Spur lasers can shoot through walls (somewhat), completely eclipsing the Snake in this regard. This has uses in B3F, where you can activate some of the Deleets behind the walls early, and you can hit the two Deleets at the end at the same time. You have to shoot at a certain distance from walls for the lasers to pass through them.

You can generally get by with soloing Hell with just the Spur. Its damage output is just that good, and it even charges a bit faster here compared to other versions of Cave Story. In addition to its utility in shooting through walls, the Spur is also your best boss-killing weapon. You can fire off Lv.3 or max level lasers pretty quickly, and all the endgame bosses have really big hitboxes such that the Spur does massive damage to them. Just a couple more optimizations to note:

You can still damage boost to fall down the hole before the Heavy Press does.
For Ballos's second phase, you'll want to stand next to his eyes before shooting (the Spur) for maximum damage.
The hitbox for Ballos's last phase is rather wonky in this port, he only seems to be vulnerable near his eye level. This part will probably take the longest out of all the bosses.

Good luck!

Hack Smash Remix (Nintendo 64)

gameid: 15964
achid: 173156 173186
Tip by: Chauckles

Remix's 1P modes can be pretty brutal on Very Hard. Clearing them with a character that lacks half of their moveset or an effective way to return to the stage sounds even more brutal. Luckily, it's not nearly as scary as it sounds. For these challenges, I recommend Polygon Kirby. He has several midair jumps that make up for his lack of recovery options, and most of his normal attacks are pretty good.

Generally, you'll want to use his forward smash (Good range, moves Kirby forward which confuses the AI), neutral/back air (Also good range & knockback), and down air (Hitting the AI offstage with this confuses them, often causing them to drop to their death). His up air can be used to instantly delete foes in multi-man battles, but be warned that you WILL get hit out of it. Also don't forget that Polygon fighters have additional color options in this hack, so make sure to pick a cool one.

Most importantly though is up tilt. Up tilt is your lord and your master. This unassuming backwards kick is extremely fast, deals a ton of damage, and combos into itself the majority of the time (Important for 1P remix, where opponents are very heavy). It's great for catching the AI when they're rollspamming, and if they try to block it you can get a near-guaranteed shield break. If you're not getting the Cheap Moves "bonus" on every stage, you're just making things harder for yourself.

It's also worth noting that 1P Remix for Polygon Fighter has no stock limit, so feel free to grab a couple extra lives.