WARMTH LIKE HOME UNAWARES

There's a group play going on at GFAQs for MM4, and of course, since I play these games way too much, I'm completing it pretty fast. I think they're going to give everyone a couple weeks? I can clear the game in about an hour, soo... I've just been kinda playing it over and over a lot to participate haha.

But, uh, I'm trying to devise new no-damage strats as my last no-damage run of MM4 was really boring and I complained a lot and I'm thinking of redoing it when I get to that point in my play diaries. Well, I was kinda thinking "I doubt I will redo this" but with this GP, I've been playing a lot and found a lot of interesting stuff that I'd really like to show off in videos.

In particular, I'm trying to minimize use of Flash Stopper. I got Flash Stopper first in my current no-damage run, and that's...... so boring lol. For the GP I did a randomized stage order and ended up doing Dive Man first, and I found a lot of places where Dive Missiles can be pretty useful. I've also just been kind of playing around after that to see what other kinds of strats I could find that might be fun. Basically making more use of weird strats stuff.

The new stage order I've come up with is vastly different from before, and a lot of stages I thought "needed" to be done later in the order, I've found strats to get through that are not only great because you can get to those items/weapons earlier, but also they are a lot more fun.

The new stage order is like this:

Dive Man

First stage so not a lot to say about it. But there's not too much you can do with weapons and items here anyway. I was mostly just forcing usage and the main thing I really used was Flash Stopper before, so now that that's out, there's really nothing to be done here. Trying to find a way to no-damage Mobys with any kind of consistency is tough, though.

Pharaoh Man

As much as I complain about the Pharaoh Shot, I've come to appreciate it a little more. But only a little. There's some fun novelty stuff that can be done with it. What's great about Pharaoh Man's stage, though, is that you can just run under or jump over everything in the first part of the stage, and then Dive Missile defeats those mummy bots in one hit, which is really awesome. You just have to learn the timing so it doesn't glitch up and spin around them, or shoot it early enough that it doesn't matter even if it does. Plus doing Dive and Pharaoh first means we pick up both secret utility items, Wire and Balloon, right away!

Drill Man

Getting Pharaoh Shot early allows early access to Drill Bomber and Rush Jet by coming here third. Dive Missile takes care of the Jumbig and usually does good against the ladybug things. There's a few places you have to be careful for the glitch again. The falling rock section at the end is actually a bit more fun with the Pharaoh Shot Charge even though you do have to hold the B button the entire time. Either way, being able to come here before getting Skull Barrier means from the first three stages we've gotten a nice variety of weapons, and all three useful utility items right away!

Ring Man

This is another that I thought needed to wait until much later, because I tend to use a wide variety of weapons here because there are four midbosses (WHY) and a lot of weird hazards. But with some unique uses of our items that we already have, we can actually conserve a lot of energy and get through this stage pretty easily! Dive Missile takes care of the entire beginning climb as well as the first Kabatoncue. The first Whopper is a safe enough distance to just use Drill Bomber, which actually defeats it in only two shots! And I only realized until just now that Whopper wobbles exactly 5 times before opening up every time. Wow! Second Kabatoncue makes use of the Pharaoh Shot Charge. It dies to three total (or two charged shots and two little Pharaoh Shots) and you never have to damage the pole. Start the battle charging, allow the floating shot to destroy the first wave of missiles, jump as the last missle is being destroyed so you bump the floating shot into Kabatoncue, then quickly back up and fire the held-in shot. The next part is a bit tricky and I haven't developed a failsafe way to get through it yet. You can jump over both missiles and charge another shot, or try to fire off two small shots quickly, or try to hit the missiles with the small shots... IDK... Anyway, the second Whopper can actually be bypassed, as you don't need to defeat to scroll the screen. I never knew this before because it's more of a speedrunner's strategy which is the opposite of my playstyle and the kind of people I watch play. But someone on the GFAQs board mentioned it, so I thought to see if you could actually safely get over it. Knowing that the Whoppers wobble 5 times, you can easily hop up onto a balloon so you are a little to the left of it and rising above it, let it do its first attack after its wobbles, then place another balloon just in front of you (over the Whopper), hop on it, and slide off to get to the other side. It's actually very easy to do! And that's the whole stage with only three weapons collected.

Toad Man

The second half of the stages was a lot harder to determine an order I wanted to use. But I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. Pharaoh Shot can be used instead of Flash Stopper at the beginning of the stage, with only one place you really need to watch out. Which there's a place you neeed to watch out with Flash Stopper, too, so it's just learning a different spot to be careful. Dive Missile destroys the rats and puyos in this stage so easily, it's great! For Escaroo, some luck or impeccable timing will allow you to defeat it with only 2 Ring Boomerangs. Otherwise it only takes 3. You can defeat them with like 7 dive missiles or something, but the trajectory ends up being way too unreliable. Would have been nice for the second Escaroo with the waterfall. Charged Pharaoh Shots only take 3 as well, but again, holding down button... it's actually easier to get into a rhythm with the Ring Boomerang anyway I feel. The end part is kinda fun to hop around with Balloon to avoid the enemies a little faster.

Skull Man

Pretty much the same strat I've always used, but I found a few places to use Balloon to make stuff a little more fun or faster. You can get over that first Skeleton Joe with three well-timed Balloons. It doesn't save time on the Skeleton Joe itself, but since I continue using Balloon for a while, it eventually saves time since there's no weapon switching to do. That's the main reason I go that route, because I have to use Rain Flush just before arriving to the Skeleton Joe, and then need to switch back to Balloon after, so... it's annoying to switch out to some other weapon just to fire one time. So instead I hop over with Balloons!!

Dust Man

I like to be able to use the weapon I just recieved in the next stage, so this is a nice next stage because the Skull Barrier helps with those ladybug things. I actually considered doing Bright Man next so I could try using the Flash Stopper for that last Met in the trash compactor section, but... that would not onyl be really annoying waiting for it to wear off, but I also realized while playing Bright Man's stage that I really like having the Dust Crusher for the Minoans in there. For the final met, I just use a more careful strat that probably is still faster than Flash Stopper even though it requires a lot of back-and-forth.

Bright Man

Coming here last is weird because I'm used to coming here very early. When I was a kid, this would be my second stage most of the time, and then more recently it's my first stage so I can get the Flash Stopper early because there's so much stuff I thought 'required' it. Anyway, I've learned from the GP that Charged Pharaoh Shot takes out Totempolens in a single hit, and there's only a few of them so that's not that much charging to do. It's also really nice having the Rush Jet for the return trip after getting the "secret" E Can and 1Up, because it's way faster than sitting and hopping on Rush Coil a ton of times. Skull Barrier makes the last section faster and safer, which is awesome. No more timing shots and being careful about incoming fire, just kinda run through and replace the shield whenever it breaks.