njay's Friendship Run

[njayhuang]

Being home for the winter gives me some time to play Gotcha, so why not do something interesting with my next playthrough? No video unfortunately, but I'll try to talk about some of the stuff that happens so this topic isn't pointless.

Well let's start off Play 8 with:
Shadow Girl / Arrow Ninja
Teleport Ninja / Copy Man

Training wheels part 1:
Kakeru, Kitsune and Nekobe, Tsutomu and Usagi, Met and Tetsuya, Flying Death Force, Drill Robot, Gatling Gunner, various training and defeat the Death Force, Showdown w/ Nekobe

Notable fights:
I am not proud to say that I suffered a loss to Met and Tetsuya, thanks to those arrows. Yeah, if my borgs could take more than 2 or 3 melee hits that'd be nice. I beat them on my second try, but still.

Flying Death Force: Shadow Girl's air dash attack actually moves her up if the enemy is above you. Huh. And one air attack to Teleport Slash is all it takes to defeat Orange/Blue apparently. The AI wasn't exactly being intelligent with its movement there.

Gatling Gunner fight is hilariously stupid. One teleport slash brings me from one side of the box to the other, so all I have to do is Teleport Slash back and forth. The only damage I took was from approaching the box in the first place. Great dishonor, time to commit sudoku.

All the Nekobe and Kitsune fights: There's nothing cowardly about running around to let Vamp Knight bleed out. It's a good strategy, especially when Vamp Knight is the stronger melee specialist.

And I'm gonna end it at Showdown with Nekobe since it's 3 AM. Come on Shadow, you're going to die from one Chainsaw combo? Insta-restart, I can do better than that. First restart Shadow teleports out of Magnet's magnet to finish off Chainsaw then turns around to kill Magnet and damage Vamp Knight. Good stuff. Teleport comes in later to take out the rest of the garbage.

I came in expecting things to be difficult but it's actually, dare I say, fun. I actually have to utilize cover, pay attention to all the enemies so I can make deliberate dodges and teleports, and make each attack deliberate and on-target or else I'll say goodbye to my health bar. It's a nice change of pace from boosting around the battlefield at the speed of light attacking head on (apply lasers directly to the forehead). Beating a mission with Shadow feels like I actually earned it by playing smart. I know I know, being able to solo a mission with Shadow isn't a big accomplishment in the easy modo part of the game, but hey I gotta start somewhere.

Didn't get to experiment with Teleport Ninja too much. Whenever he comes out and I try to be cool, my HP ends up in the red and I resort to defensive teleports and ranged blade shots.

[Deleted]

I did include Shadow Girl simply for the sake of a "hard mode" option, but after posting I started to think no one would pick her over the obviously less difficult to use Arrow Ninja.

Glad to see I was wrong, and that you're having fun with her as well.

You've made this Taz proud, so don't go committing sudoku just yet.

[Indigo]

It is really fun, and a challenge at the same time. It's really different trying to make do with what you're given and having to make the best of your abilities and strategy. It's almost like playing a different game when you can... Lose on Gotcha Force. That said, running from a Vampire Knight is cowardly.

Met and Tetsuya almost had me, too. It's actually a duo with lots of synergy and killing power.

An air attack to a teleport slash with Teleport Ninja is also very powerful. Don't really know how the calculating works, but I guess it's something like two hits doing damage without damage scaling.

Fun fact, many times, when trying to air attack a plane with Teleport Ninja from above, you'll actually end up riding them.

[njayhuang]

Training Wheels pt 2:
Sho, random training/death force, Flame Dragon, Red Attackers, Tetsuya and Met, Ultimate Cannon, Bodyguards, Orochi

Okay what the heck, Sho just walks away without a fight? Was it because I lost a battle earlier? It's been so long that I forgot how to trigger the different paths.

Vs. Flame Dragon: Shadow Girl took out the death borgs easily and Teleport Ninja ripped Flame Dragon a new dragon hole as expected.

With that extra 100 GFE from defeating Flame Dragon, I now have 1050 GF energy to play around with so let's revise the teams. Sorry Shadow, but I want to try out some other borgs and you're too similar to Teleport Ninja. 'Twas fun though.
Tar Diver / Sekhmet Witch
Teleport Ninja / Copy Man
Pop Honey / Death Borg Delta II

Tetsuya and Met:
Tar Diver could hold his own against Normal Samurai in a 1v1, but Wire Gunner just has to keep pulling me into walls and floors. Pop Honey though: that lovely voice and Rain of Pain. Get rekt bro.

Random Death Force:
If you plan on fighting Tornado Valk with a Diver, you better love the sky because with your fall speed you're not coming back down after getting thrown into the skybox.
Amazingly, Pop Honey seems to be super effective against knights to the point where she was able to easily beat Sword Knight in melee combat. Take a moment to let that sink in. I know I did.

Death Force bodyguards:
Sigh ...there's another loss; Got sweeped by the bodyguard Knights. I guess I can't team up with Sho or Orochi this playthrough. First restart, I lose Tar Diver to the Knights and Teleport Ninja solos them. Now how come I didn't play like that on my first try?

Orochi:
Here we go. Tar dies to Ghost Knight, Teleport takes out the rest of Orochi's team and Saph, while Pop Honey has a flawless victory against Ruby. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Random thoughts:
Tar Diver's mid air attacks sure are something: you can knock an enemy back and hit them again when they get up with just one attack. There aren't many borgs that can do that, and I'm pretty sure all of them end with "Diver".
Jelly shots are wonky though. If you fire mid-dash you can shoot a bunch of them in quick succession, but if you accidentally shoot between air dashes or your sidestrafe angle is too big it'll bring you to a standstill.

Still working on that Teleport Ninja. He can kick some serious Gotcha butt on occasion, but sometimes when I think I'm doing a sneaky teleport I end up wide open in front of the borg I was trying to juke out. Whoops.

I never really gave much thought to this, but the "tutorial" actually does a really good job of introducing the player to the game. With all the commanders and the themed battles, you get experience fighting a wide variety of borgs. It also introduces a few interesting mechanics that pop up later like commanders joining in the middle of the battle and missions where you just need to kill the boss.

Dec 12, 2013 23:12:30 GMT @taz said:

I did include Shadow Girl simply for the sake of a "hard mode" option, but after posting I started to think no one would pick her over the obviously less difficult to use Arrow Ninja.

Glad to see I was wrong, and that you're having fun with her as well.

You've made this Taz proud, so don't go committing sudoku just yet.

Even though I've switched her out of my force for now, I'll definitely be using her more in the future. Especially since I've got one in an awesome shade of silver, it'd be a shame to just have her sitting in the box.

Dec 13, 2013 1:46:19 GMT Indigo said:

It is really fun, and a challenge at the same time. It's really different trying to make do with what you're given and having to make the best of your abilities and strategy. It's almost like playing a different game when you can... Lose on Gotcha Force. That said, running from a Vampire Knight is cowardly.

Met and Tetsuya almost had me, too. It's actually a duo with lots of synergy and killing power.

An air attack to a teleport slash with Teleport Ninja is also very powerful. Don't really know how the calculating works, but I guess it's something like two hits doing damage without damage scaling.

Fun fact, many times, when trying to air attack a plane with Teleport Ninja from above, you'll actually end up riding them.

Each approach is a high risk situation that plays right into Vamp's strength. It's more logical to go with the low risk option which caters to Shadow's strength and takes advantage of Vamp's weakness.

Of course, it's not like I ran around for 10 minutes waiting for Vamp's HP to drop lol. What would be the point of that? I just decided to play more passively and look for the sure openings, e.g. instead of jumping out to get the first hit and chasing him to attack as soon as he gets up, I would string him along and wait for his attack then sidestep and hit him in the back, letting him fly away without giving chase.

This playthrough is bringing me back to when I first started playing the game. Getting hit by a samurai slash opens up a perfect opportunity for an arrow to hit you. And once that happens, it's you vs a samurai in your face. After a few years I'd laugh at Met because my borgs were powerful enough that Met's support wasn't that much of a problem, but playing with regular borgs shows how good of a team Met and Tetsuya are.

Riding on planes, I'll definitely have to try that out when I can!

[Spike]

I love the fact your team has Pop Honey on it.

[Indigo]

Pop Honey beating knights isn't a surprise really. Her niche is an incredibly useful one. Almost anything that starts spinning becomes totally useless offensively.

I also noticed that about Tar Diver. The way it works, I'm almost sure it was intentional though. His normal ground melee is the same, and his best way of doing damage. Yeah, Tar Diver's strongest move is on the ground. Good to know about the jelly shots, though, I just assumed rapid firing them made you stop no matter what. Well, I'm not sure how I feel about this guy. He's hilarious, and fun to play, and matrix zones anything around, but he's also laughably weak... I mean, he'll wreck almost anything one on one, but anything more and he just can't deal with it.

Those gem knights like to ruin things... They're honestly not much of a threat, it's just Sapphire. You have to focus on it because its beam ruins your life otherwise, and Ruby likes to flank you during that. Teleport Ninja makes quick work of them, though. Teleporting to avoid the beams, and behind their shields and cone of attack.

Teleport Ninja is a real life saver... I always wished he had better range, but now I'm realizing just how good he is when I can't just abuse G-Red. I swear, he carries the team. I might have him become Copy Man in season 2... The point when G-Red becomes Neo.

As for Sho, I remember he ran off for me too. I don't remember enough from older playthroughs but... That's not normal? I don't remember having lost before that, so I'm not sure what it is.

[njayhuang]

Time to switch up the teams again. I know Pop Honey is great, so I'll switch her out for Alien Insect.
Tar Diver / Sekhmet Witch
Teleport Ninja / Copy Man
Tao Master / Alien Insect

First DF invasion pt 1:
(Cooperate with [Commander name] to) protect [Location name]

No notable battles, but Hero Showdown should give me some trouble in my next Gotcha session.

Protect Little Hill should be a Raid commercial.

So Tar Diver can do a pseudo Rain of Pain. Doesn't quite have the height, but he can stay in the air for quite some time with those long air dashes while raining down jelly shots. And speaking of jelly shots, it seems they actually have acceleration, although I'd much rather prefer a fixed speed projectile instead of having them starting slow and picking up speed.

Whoa, Alien Insect has sword shock waves. I feel like I knew about this before, but it's always fun to rediscover things.

Dec 13, 2013 10:36:39 GMT Indigo said:

He'll wreck almost anything one on one, but anything more and he just can't deal with it.

This is so true. You just have to keep switching targets and attack one while the other is down, or try to at least.

[njayhuang]

Team is still the same:
Tar Diver / Sekhmet Witch
Teleport Ninja / Copy Man
Tao Master / Alien Insect

First DF invasion pt 2:
Angel & Girl, DB Beta, Demon Samurai, Hero Showdown, Angel, Vs Sho, Cosmic Dragon, vs Orochi, Dark Knight, various training and death force

Angel & Girl Borg Unit:
Wow, 5080 GFE worth of borgs? Granted most of that was Shadow Girls and support borgs, but Tar Diver got completely destroyed by that triple Killer Girl opening. 

Beta Unit:
lol

Showdown! Hero Borg Unit:
Freakin' Star Hero giving me my first loss against the hero borg unit. However, they were gracious enough to accept a rematch. Tar Diver was not that useful against this many borgs unfortunately. Teleport Ninja took out Gold Hero, Metal Hero, and a bit of Cyber, while Shadow Girl got OHKO'd by friendly fire from Metal Hero. Alien Insect bombed down Cyber, then it was just a matter of dodging and waiting for him to power down before Hyper Moding to win. Currently tied 1-1.

Vs Sho:
Tar Diver did about as well against Garuda as I thought he would, which is to say he took advantage of Sho's over aggressive tendency to melee in order to get close, then went to town with jelly punches. Only took down about half of his health before dying. Alien Insect though, he's like the undiscovered counter to Sho. His four jumps gave him the extra height he needed and each insect bomb sent Garuda flying. The weaken scopes effectively neutralizes Blade Wing's boomerang too.

Vs Orochi:
No strats just fighting as hard as I can. Alien Insect vs Ruby Knight was interesting. Explosions everywhere and I ended up winning somehow.

Dark Knight:
Tar Diver surprisingly had a flawless victory against Plasma Dragon. Could it have been faster with other borgs? Most likely. Slipped up a bit against the DB Omegas, but man is it epic to fight 3 omegas charging from 3 different angles inside the scope. Tar Diver eventually died to the second Gatling Gunner, Teleport died to Saph. Alien Insect gets shield pushed into a corner by Saph's beam. Normally that would be a bad thing, but in this case about 90% of the lasers and bombs were blocked by the shield. A steady stream of bug bombs takes out Dark Knight and the bodyguards flee once they realize their client is dead.

[Carigun]

Dec 13, 2013 1:46:19 GMT Indigo said:

It is really fun, and a challenge at the same time. It's really different trying to make do with what you're given and having to make the best of your abilities and strategy.

i know as i would take the death saucer's power for granted and jump to that or its little brother. So play 4 will be different

[Indigo]

That's why I didn't want to use them for the friendship run, lol.

And yeah, the angel/girl borg unit surprised me, too. Really huge force for an early mission. It wasn't too hard, though, besides the Killer Girls at the start and near the end.

And you had a much easier time against the Dark Knight, huh? Though I'll argue you had Teleport Ninja and Alien Insect at your disposal and went straight for the boss

Poor Tar Diver, though. He really dies a lot for both of us. It's cool how he takes on anything, though, as long as he's not outgunned. Not just outnumbered since he can deal with any number of melee borgs. I foresee he'll become much more integral once giant machine borgs show up.

[Spike]

Dec 16, 2013 6:19:50 GMT njayhuang said:

Beta Unit:
lol

It's funny how accurate that is.

[Stove]

Nice to see Pop Honey getting some more love.

[njayhuang]

New team:
Time Bomber / Wire Girl
Switching Ninja / Acceleration Ninja
Hammer Robot / Megaton Robot
Blue Striker / Carrier Helicopter

Downtime training pt 1:
Kotaro arrives, various Training and Death Force, ICBM Tanks, Hero Showdown

Notable battles:
ICBM Tanks:
You would think Switching would be useful against ICBM tanks, but unfortunately I solo'd with Time Bomber so I never got the chance to find out.

Hero Showdown! Match 2, begin! Time Bomber was able to take out the melee heroes by staying close and using his own bombs to give him invuln. Switching Ninja then took out a weakened Gold Hero and Planet Hero. Current score is 2-1, Gotcha Force leading.

As horrible as Time Bomber and Switching Ninja are, I was surprised at how few missions required me to bring out Hammer Robot. A defeat the Death Force with Gatling Tank took out Switching Ninja, and another defeat the Death Force with Panther Vehicle and Elemental Knight brought me all the way to Carrier Heli, but besides that I was able to take on all the missions with the first 2 alone.

Time Bomber has quite a few strategies. One is to dash over the opponent's head and lay a few bombs, then use your X shot to blow all of them up. Deals a fair bit of burst damage, but is pretty risky. Dropping bombs while circling around or while retreating takes too long for the minimal damage it causes. Aggressive suicide bombing kind of works, and taking reduced damage from your own bombs is a lot better than taking normal damage from enemies. Still, the safest tactic is to just use the ranged X shot.

Switching Ninja is like Teleport Ninja without the thing that makes Teleport Ninja good. Eugh. His B shot even does half damage too. Well at least he's cheaper than Teleport; if he was more expensive I would be having a real WTF moment. That X attack, only good use I found for it was for attacking through a floor/ceiling. Otherwise, there's too much lag or it's just not that useful.

[Indigo]

I don't think either of them are horrible... Time Bomber is really solid, if limited. His shot is great, and the bombs are gimmicky, but are an extra option, while he's like a nimble cannon.

Switching Ninja... Yeah, he's a letdown. Teleport Ninja without the teleport. His shots, on the other hand, while laughably weak, are way more usable. He still has the good melee. And the switch attack leaves a lot to be wanted, but it's actually not that bad in three cases.

Case 1, jumping over your opponent and using it as an attack from above. Nice and safe. Though usually not too beneficial to switch them into the air above you.

Case 2, it's risky, but has high reward. Using it up close against melee borgs. Yes, it sounds crazy, but they have to move away from you to dodge it, or if they get hit while trying to melee, you can counter them. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the attack is uncancelable once started, right? So even if you get hit, it'll likely be a one for one.

Case 3 is anti-air. It's probably the most practical use. Try to get directly under a flying enemy, and you can safely attack with an anti-air pillar, switching to an advantageous position if it hits.

Of course, the main flaw is constant. It's just slow, so enemies can avoid it easily. But for what it's worth, it's the only attack in the game that sets an area of effect trap right where the opponent is. I wonder if your partner tries to dodge it... And I bet it has some other underground uses like escaping Chainsaw Knight grapples or Arrow Ninja traps. And heck, it's an option to attack behind cover and stuff.

[njayhuang]

Time Bomber / Wire Girl
Switching Ninja / Acceleration Ninja
Spike Knight / Victory Tank
Hammer Robot / Megaton Robot

Sho vs Orochi pt 1:
Sho & Yuji, Orochi & Tama, Death Eye, Hot Battle, Copy Man, Protect the Death Crystal, vs. Tama and Beam Satellites

Notable Battles:
Sho & Yuji:
Hammer Brobot absolutely wrecks Sho.

Orochi & Tama:
Correction: Hammer Brobot absolutely wrecks everyone.

Sho & Yuji... again:
I'm not sure if the AI glitched or something, but Garuda never used Fly after getting knocked up high. Just airwalked around at the top of the stage and shot firebombs. Sure is fun fighting a borg at the top of the stage with close-range borgs.

Death Eye unit:
That feel when I solo a mission with Time Bomber.

Copy Man:
That one Walking Bomb gets me every time. Not notable enough for me to remember before the battle, but enough for me to remember after the fact that I keep forgetting about it.

Tama and Beam Satellites:
Wait, how did he Power Burst on the second satellite when I didn't even get hit? Through friendly fire? Well no matter, Hyper Mode doesn't change the fact that Beam Satellites are weak to walking.

[Spike]

Dec 21, 2013 7:51:37 GMT njayhuang said:

Correction: Hammer Brobot absolutely wrecks everyone.

Exactly

Dec 21, 2013 7:51:37 GMT njayhuang said:

Garuda never used Fly after getting knocked up high. Just airwalked around at the top of the stage and shot firebombs.

Pretty sure that's just the AI.
In the Sho/Yuji battles, Sho just enters lazy mode.

[njayhuang]

Dec 22, 2013 5:39:14 GMT Spike said:

Dec 21, 2013 7:51:37 GMT njayhuang said:

Garuda never used Fly after getting knocked up high. Just airwalked around at the top of the stage and shot firebombs.

Pretty sure that's just the AI.
In the Sho/Yuji battles, Sho just enters lazy mode.

Huh. Never noticed that.

Team:
Shadow Girl / Arrow Ninja
Time Bomber / Wire Girl
Tao Master / Alien Insect
Sonic Samurai / Sword Knight
Spike Knight / Victory Tank

Sho vs. Orochi pt 2:
Yuji and Met, various Death Force, Showdown Hero Borg, Protect the Death Crystal, A Mysterious Crystal, Defeat a Death Commander, Co-op with Sho to defeat Orochi

Notable battles:
Hero Borg Showdown:
Shadow Girl gets wrecked by Gold Hero super laser to Cyber Hero super laser. Time Bomber kills everyone. Uh... ok. Current score is 3-1, Gotcha Force.

Protect the Death Crystal:
Oh God, the debuff battle. Shadow Girl and Time Bomber take out Akuma Samurai and the Slow Valyries at least, but go down to Flame Ninjas. Hyper Mode Alien Insect defeats Elemental Knight, Flame Ninjas, and Sekhmet, but eventually dies too. Sonic Samurai dies to the cheating Chrono Samurai, and Hyper Mode Spike Knight takes out the rest: Flame Ninja, Chrono Samurai, Death Wing.

Defeat a Death Commander:
Shadow Girl pro strat: Get underneath fortress then jump and teleport slash over and over, using hyper mode after every 4 or 5 hits. With Death Arc out of the way within the first minute or so, I wasn't in any danger of losing to the 5 borgs left in the fight, although they were pretty strong.

Co-op with Sho:
Either the AI has a really short Hyper Mode bar or Sho needs to get some evasion lessons, because I'm dodging like a mofo and they keep getting Hyper Mode. Get a grip! Spike Knight and Alien Insect did an excellent job blocking Cyber Mars though, even from directions I wasn't facing! I guess the whole 'moving the shield to the side when I airdash' thing isn't so bad after all.

[njayhuang]

GF energy +100! With his top two GF Commanders defeated, the Galactic Emperor decides it's time to bring out the strong borgs. I'll put some new borgs in my team to accommodate that. Sekhmet Witch to weaken borgs, Sword Knight for defense, Victory Tank and Hammer Robot to overwhelm the Death Force with raw power. And Shadow Girl just because.

Shadow Girl / Arrow Ninja
Tar Diver / Sekhmet Witch
Sonic Samurai / Sword Knight
Spike Knight / Victory Tank
Hammer Robot / Megaton Robot

Serious Business pt 1:
various Training and Death Force, Death Force Special Unit, Cockroach parade, Tank Borg Unit, Knight Borg Unit, Death Borg Unit, Ultimate Cannon Unit, Air battle, Dragon's Den, Showdown at Death Base, UFO

Notable battles:
Tank Borg Unit: Oh my God. 3 Beam Tanks spawning in the sky and instantly rain down 18 lasers. Scariest moment of Gotcha Force right there.

So even when they're super small, Ultimate Cannons can still OHKO. Maybe I should test super small Ult Cannon against a borg with more HP. Still, I was able to beat the mission with only 2 casualties.

Dragon's Den: Shadow Girl takes cares of the first two Fire Dragons by alternating teleport slashes, then in the next wave. Sekhmet turns all the dragons tiny and slowly whittles their health for 2 or 3 waves. Sword Knight shield-dashes dragons to death but then goes down to a large dragon. Victory Tank gets annihilated by a breath after he spawns. Hammer Robot takes out Blizzard and Plasma with a little help from our old friend the Y button. Those mines are surprisingly effective at charging Hyper Mode, especially against such a large target.

Sho Showdown:
Shadow Girl handily defeats Jet Hero and then it's... Blade Wing already? So not only do I have more GF energy compared to the last Sho Showdown, but Sho actually has less borgs. Hyper Moded Shadow Girl weakens Blade Wing, Sekhmet comes in to finish Blade Wing. Garuda out now, Sekhmet lands a bunch of Shrink spells but even so, Garuda is still too strong. Sword Knight almost takes out Garuda but dies to a well placed fire bomb. One Victory Cannon later, Sho just gives Kou the third Death Crystal. An elementary school student opening the ominously named Death Gate, there's no way this could go wrong. But there's some objects blocking the gate! I can't identify what they are, but they appear to be flying.

UFO:
Shadow and Sekhmet did a whole lot of nothing as expected. With Death Saucer constantly moving, Shadow's air dash drops too much for me to Teleport Slash from underneath. Death Saucer is also immune to Shrink spell, so Sekhmet just poked at the Flying Saucers' HP. Sword Knight was able to deal good damage with cross slashes before dying, and the tank of victory takes the victory.


Sekhmet is an interesting borg. The Shrink spell is a really good attack. It lowers attack, defense, and speed, and it has pretty good homing (I think all the spells do). I've seen it wrap around the stage to chase a boosting plane. It even gives her a small boost like Pop Honey's B shot. However Sekhmet's follow-up options are just okay. Her B shots are mediocre and it feels like most of her melee attacks will go over or past the tiny borg because they were designed to attack borgs her size. If you've ever tried to melee a normal borg as Proto Blue, it's kind of like that. Her ground dash attack is a spinning attack with good coverage, which is pretty nice. Overall she plays her support role really well, but trying to go solo isn't such a good idea. Stick with Pop Honey if you want to use support borgs that can hold their own in a tough battle.

Sword Knight is pretty effective for his cost. Shield's great, shield-dashing's great, and cross slash's great. Regular melee is tough to land, or maybe I'm just spoiled by his amazing charge B. Seriously, the range on that thing in combination with its aim. Too good.

Victory Tank is pretty average as far as tanks go: low speed, strong attacks. There's nothing really special about Victory Tank, which makes sense since he was basically an afterthought (if my theory about alternate borgs is correct).

[Indigo]

Cheats, switching out several borgs. I alao have more catching up to do now after just having done so earlier. Sho just had a Wing Soldier extra before, didnt he? The thing is, the game probably doesn't really expect you to win against him that early on, or rather, intends it as a serious challenge. The one on one that's part of the story is likely just a bit easier since it's a story battle you have to win, not an early game 'secret boss.'

About Sword Knight, it really isn't worthwhile to use his melee. It's just seriously outclassed... By himself. They have weird homing, bad range, bad radius, and are extremely laggy. On the other hand, his charge slash charges quickly, shoots two huge waves with good range that are really, really hard to dodge, and, if you use it up close, it actually does 4 hits. If the actual sword hits it does massive damage, even OHKOing, or almist, several borgs in Hyper Mode. I think even Death Force fatties get OHKO'd without it, though. If not, chaining a shield hit into it does. That's another thing. The guy can soon around like a boss while tossing his shield, nimbly dodging almost anything without stopping, and if the shield hits, it does nice damage and stuns enemies for free hits... If that wasn't enough, if something dodges the shield and goes in to melee you (or just in front of you for any reason), the shield will get them on the way back even if you're getting hit. Yeah, it's easy to be spoiled from using his melee... He can even go against flying borgs.