Iceman
Stage Overview- As you would expect by picking a stage
headed by a guy named “Iceman”, this stage is full of (big
shock) ice. Being so, it’s slippery and can have you
flying off into gaping chasms and into foes without only
minor errors. To top it off, there are some aggravating
puzzle elements to it, making it a bit more annoying than
Gutsman’s stage.
Iceman Stage Walkthrough- As soon as you show up in
your limousine (no, I’m kidding; Rock doesn’t get a limo
until the third game when he negotiates for a better
contract with Capcom), you’ll be attacked by a new foe-
the Crazy Razy. These things are a pain. If you just shoot
them as you would a mighty Pickelman, their legs will take
the hit but their upper halves start flying around in
attempt to pimp slap you. The best way to avoid that
headache is to shoot them in the head first and take out
the whole mess at once. Oh yeah, they also shoot plasma at
you if you let them walk around with their legs, so don’t
let them do any power walking for too long.
After you take that one down and start walking forward on
the slippery permafrost, another one will show up on the
first ledge. Aim for the eyes and take him down before he
can give you any beef- you have enough of that already.
Keep going up the steps and two more will show up. Rinse,
lather, repeat. You’ll come across a new element
altogether- water. In the Wily Wars version of this game,
water has the same physics engine as it does in later
games, so you can “super jump” when submerged. Take
advantage of that. But, if you’re playing the old NES
version, water is just another color for the background
and nothing more.
As soon as you set your eyes on the water, Pepes will
appear. These things travel exactly like the Killer Bombs
from Bombman’s level, but without the nasty explosion.
Feel free to dole out a helping of justice and get them
out of the picture as soon as they show up on screen. As
you enter the water, you’ll see some Gabyoalls patrolling
the blue depths in addition to the constant stream of
Pepes. Try to leap past the Gabyoalls while shooting the
Pepes. Keep a constant pace until you reach the end of the
screen. At the end of the screen, you’ll see a pair of
Adhering Suzies guarding a large health item, so take them
out (use a Hyper Bomb if you’re feeling lazy) and continue
down the blue tube.
Once you’re down there, you’ll find yourself in a wide
open room with a Gabyoall patrolling the floor under a
shallow pool of water. Use the Rolling Cutter to take care
of it so you can concentrate on the disappear-o blocks
that will show up over your head. Observe the pattern and
take your time- with no enemies, you shouldn’t be in a
rush.
Get past that puzzle and another one awaits you down
below, with another Gabyoall scooting around. Take it out
with a Cutter and now start your cheating. Well, not
really cheating, but it’s a nice little time saver after
dealing with the last room. Switch to your Magnet Beam,
walk over to the right-most wall of the pit, face the
left, jump, and fire off a Magnet Beam just low enough to
jump onto from the floor. If done correctly (and if you’re
playing the WW version), a double-shot of the platform
should be all you need. Don’t make them too big and waste
all of your precious ammo on a single attempt. Traverse
over the ledge after beating the puzzle at it’s own game
and you’ll come face to face with a huge canyon.
By now, the slippery floors will probably be irking you,
so jump straight up to stop the sliding about. A strange
enemy will be patrolling the canyon to help you out and
provide you with another migraine. The Foot Holder is a
floating platform with a mind of it’s own, and it’ll go
along it’s own slow moving path which is rarely in your
best interest. Because the game designers are also evil,
evil people, Foot Holders also shoot out plasma bullets
whenever they change direction, meaning they may shoot you
out of the sky just as you’re making a critical leap.
For the first part of this nightmare, four Foot Holders
will be there to help/aggravate you across the chasm, and
after either a short few leaps or a nerve wracking
eternity of waiting for just the right conditions
(depending on what these things are doing), you’ll see a
small column with a large ammo item. Now would be a good
time to fill up that Magnet Beam. Now, you could use the
Magnet Beam to traverse the entire canyon, but you’ll
probably run out just before you reach the end and plummet
to your death and have to start in the first puzzle room
with no weapon energy for it. That would be a bad thing.
Instead, keep the Magnet Beam active but use it towards
the end of this exercise in platforming Hell to avoid the
a fore mentioned scenario. And oh yeah, I almost forgot to
mention- there’ll be a constant barrage of Pepes flying at
you during the second part of this. With a little bit of
skill and a whole lot of luck, you’ll be atop the high
ledge of the other side of the canyon. Just don’t break
your arm patting yourself on the back.
Almost as if the game designers were attempting to make up
for that hair pulling bit of level back there, a 1up waits
for you down below. Walk off the side of the ledge down
the tube and jam on the “left” button to land in that
little passageway to get your well-deserved bounty. You
probably need it after going through that mess.
Continuing down the tube, keep pushing “left” to land on
another goodie ledge, which has three small health pick
ups and three small weapon energy items. Man, those Capcom
people must have felt really guilty for putting you
through that mess. That, or they know the Big Eye that
awaits you down below has a good chance of smashing you
flat and sending you back to the first puzzle room before
the big canyon. This is why I try to avoid fights with
these things.
Keep going past the Big Eye to start knockin’ on Ice’s
door. The hallway is filled with flying Pepes, so keep
shootin’ as you run forward to start your showdown with
the frosty one himself.
Boss Fight: Iceman- Iceman uses the most blatantly
obvious pattern of any Robot Master in this game. To his
credit though, he has the weapon that lets him get away
with it. The Ice Slasher is purposely meant to go really
slow in an attempt to screw up your timing, and Iceman
keeps a constant stream of them going, stopping only to
skate forwards or backwards for a few steps. The Slasher
can do some nasty damage to you if it hits you, and can
kill you just as fast as the Thunder Beam. Speaking of the
Thunder Beam…Use it. Three shots is a relative number for
old Icy, so take him down with it. If you’re feeling
brave, use the Mega Buster and start doing the little
dance to avoid the stream of Ice Slashers and you can beat
him fairly easily if you don’t let the icy floors trip you
up.
Weapon Profile: Ice Slasher- Your version of the
Ice Slasher is a lot faster than Iceman’s thankfully, and
it carries a special attribute. Instead of damaging an
enemy, it freezes it in place for a few seconds, allowing
you to slip past it and be astonished as a freezing weapon
can cause things to defy the laws of physics by keeping
enemies frozen in the air. This is useful against the Big
Eyes, and can be useful in Fireman’s level where you can
actually freeze certain types of flames. Aside from that,
however, this weapon has limited usefulness, as you cannot
switch weapons while an on-screen enemy remains frozen, so
don’t plan on whipping out some mad Ice Slasher/Thunder
Beam combos anytime soon.
