100% Metroid Dread

 Coming back to it today, I actually managed to complete the Shinespark puzzle in Burenia on the third attempt, which was the last thing I needed to get 100% of the items in the game.

This is probably the most difficult puzzle to pull off in the game (though each zone has one very tricky shinespark puzzle - Ferenia has two, actually, though one's a little easier than the other. I actually think the harder one, which is in the lower left of the map, might be easier if I understood a bit better the way the speed booster interacts with slopes.)

In the room with the green teleporter (which takes you to eastern Gharovan) you can use bombs to open a passage to the right low to the ground. There are then a bunch of those fire-plants you need ice missiles to destroy, and then there's an energy tank (maybe just a part) that you can find, but the really difficult thing involves the rooms below. The path here is pretty obvious, but the obstacles (and especially the tight space to actually build up speed) make the puzzle quite difficult.

In the room where you found the energy tank, you have just barely enough room to run to the left (through a door, so you're going to need to shoot it open every time) to build up your speed booster. Honestly, probably 2/3 of my attempts at this were just getting the timing right to actually get the Shinespark activated before I ran off the platform.

Once you'r glowing purple, you need to go through the door the right, drop down, slide through the gap, and shoot downward through the beam blocks. Then, while mid-air, activate the shinespark to hit the slanted path to your left. This will preserve your speedbooster, but you don't want to crouch yet, instead making use of the speed boost to run up the slant and then slide through the gap in the next room. Before you go over the next ledge, you need to crouch to get your shine spark. Then, you drop down and activate the shinespark again mid-air to hit the slanted path. Pretty much immediately, you want to crouch to convert the speed boost back into a shine-spark, and then drop off the ledge, and then finally activate the shinespark to smash through the blocks that bar the way to a Missile + tank.

So, with 100% of the items collected, I have nowhere to go but the endgame. I have roommates, though, and plan to wait until I have access to the TV for this grand finale - I'm fine collecting items in my room using the Switch's screen, but for the main event I'm going to want to have the big TV.

Ultimately, you wind up with 275 missiles and 15 power bombs. The UI seems to have room for one more energy tank, though unfortunately I think you can only get that via an Amiibo.

I am a little sad to be nearing the end of this very good game.

Much like a lot of Dark Souls games, the first time through this has felt very challenging, but I suspect subsequent runs are going to be less-so. The first couple bosses, I was still getting used to the controls, and fumbling for the aim button and the missile button, and figuring out timing on counters. I don't think my later runs will be flawless, but I figure I'll probably do a lot better against bosses like Corpius and Kraid.