https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMwRZUdaQVg

It's been a while since the last part, so allow me to repeat the rules of the Masochist Run:

* No damage can be taken at any point, or the run is over. I need to complete the entire stage in one go, taking damage means I need to restart the level.
* No special weapons are allowed.
* No upgrades are allowed.
* You have to suffer through my humdrum, prosaic commentary about what is happening on the screen.

Something to mention at the start.

YouTube screws over the video to some degree. The effect of that can be witnessed in the Agile fight: during the fight, when Agile makes his jumping motion, he sends out a wave thing, or whatever the hell it is, at you.

Due to something that has to do with framerates that I have any understanding of, the video doesn't actually show the wave during the first half of the battle.

It makes stuff look rather silly, but more on that in a minute.

Morph Moth's stage is fun.

What? What do you want from me? Emotion?

Fine, I'll go into detail.

It's got quirky physics, a few gimmicks, and nothing too challenging in regards to this challenge, but it's still easy enough to make look somewhat good on video.

What's not easy to make look good, though, is Agile.

Agile is the first of the X Hunter bosses who serve as mid-stage bosses in randomly selected stages. You can enter these fights after you beat whatever two stages in the game. The X Hunters are optional, but since this is a challenge, of course I'll tackle them.

They're all really challenging, especially in this insane run where I'm determined to not tank a hit.

Agile, in particular, is tough. He looks easy, which is a shame, because if I don't do exactly what I'm supposed to do at the exact right time, throughout the entire fight, I'm fucked.

Agile doesn't have a set pattern, he does an attack, then immediately decides on the next one. And he's fast. My timing has to be extremely on point at all times.

This fucker caused most of my failures here.

The fact that YouTube screws over the first half of the fight doesn't help matters when trying to convey the difficulty here.

Despite what it may look like, I can't just do the ole wall jump-charge-drop down-blast combo that made Sigma's first form in X1 so easy. Agile's attacks have an element of randomness about them, and I have to keep an eye on what he's doing all the time, while navigating my wall jumps. The difficulty stems from the fact that Agile doesn't have a set, predictable pattern. You just need to pay attention and wish for the best, basically.

If you're ever having a bad day, just remind yourself that you're not as fucking retarded as someone like me who actually attempts an asinine run like this through a game that was never designed for you to be able to complete it like that.

But I've said it before: nothing's impossible if you're just stupid enough to keep crackin' at it.

So, we make it through Agile, after 20 or so attempts.

And I have something more to say. And that's good, I almost went on a diatribe about my feelings just to fill space.

Imagine the soul-crushing heartbreak of finally beating Agile, making it to the end of the stage, and then having entire run fucked over by the piece of shit standing conveniently in front of the boss door. It's like it's even hard to dodge, I was just careless. Meaning I have no one to blame but myself, and that's always the worst. I haven't experienced heartbreak like that since... well, since five minutes ago, but that's another post.

So, I did the damn stage again. Including Agile.

Finally, the boss.

Morph Moth is easier than Agile, but he can really give you a run for your money if you're not careful.

The annoying part is the trash he throws around at the beginning of the fight, and he always does that. It's not as bad the spikes that Sting Chameleon drops from the ceiling in X1, but they can still be a bitch to deal with. Luckily, you can destroy the garbage by shooting at them with the X Buster. If you just glue your eyes to the screen, it's within the realm of possibility to dodge them.

At this point, I had made it through Agile, and I was determined to not fight him again, so I was careful at Morph Moth.

After you take out half of Morph Moth's health, he evolves into Venomoth. Or whatever the fuck.

The second form is easier than the first by a mile. He flies around and attempts to bedazzle you with, I don't know, some sort of fairydust, which, considering his pink and purple color scheme makes me wonder how Maverick sexual orientation works. He also tries to shoot you with a rainbow laser, which makes you think.

The dust is dodged by staying next to the wall. Exciting stuff.

Let's talk about Agile some more because I swear to ffff-

I think I've cursed enough for one rant.

See you next time. I'll tackle Crystal Snail and Serges. And Crystal Snail is one of my favorite bosses in X2 to fuck with.

Oh, I cursed again.