This run was done after the full power run and I believe is smoother and more ideal in terms of actual speed. The full power run (and its many attempts) gave me a lot of practice and toughened me up quite a bit. Normal mode is quite easy in comparison to hard; I didn't know there were so many differences aside from enemy health, some item locations, and the behavior of the hearts (disappear vs. collectable again after a hit). For example:

- the wind and slipperiness of the ice levels is considerably less
- the blue and green razor soldiers are relatively docile
- less and slower fireballs in the fire stages
- Draco's fire breath (green boss) doesn't follow you
- Hades (fire boss) is slower (laser/arm/spinning speed)
- the levers at the end of fire stage one stay down longer

However, without full power there are some other difficulties, like maintaining max fire/bomb count and having to find remote and ultra ("cherry") bomb items. Indeed, during this run I explore more of the game and have to solve a couple more puzzles and figure some things out. For example, in water stage one I use the "dizzy boost" to get to the bridge switch.

I also figured out other uses for the dizzy boost in black fortress stage three that I did not use in the full power run. If you're curious, a dizzy boost (my term) involves laying a bomb a couple spaces away from the wall. Bomberman then holds a bomb in his hand, hugs the wall, and attempts to toss it. Since there is no physical room you will be knocked out and go backwards, landing on the first bomb, which will bounce you to the next, and up the ledge. It's quite fancy. I learned it from SpryoDi's GameFAQs bomb ladder guide.

No time is lost in this game if you die during a mini or major boss. No time is lost if you say "no" to a game over. No time is lost if you reset the N64. I didn't abuse that very much if at all here, however, aside from killing myself if I drew bad luck at a boss.

The main reason this is much longer than hard power mode, besides the obvious, are the bosses. Without remotes for Altair's henchmen it can take much longer to land a pumped explosion on them and then even just finishing them off can be a challenge. The most difficult bosses to obtain all five cards are Altair and Spellmaker, which is why I saved a segment just for each one (although I was confident enough to go for the difficult cards after Spell, which paid off in the end...it could have gone quite badly).

Speaking of cards, here's a summary: in each action stage you can find three cards hidden. One card is earned after killing 30 enemies and the fifth is a reward for beating the stage under a predetermined time limit. Bosses have their own unique requirements: big ones involve blowing pieces of them off (arms, wings, missile launchers, etc.) while the Bomberman sized guys involve catching them in explosions, bouncing a pumped bomb off their head, and doing something goofy (like getting caught in Orion's shield or knocking Regulus out as he does a ninja dash). All bosses also have a time limit.

Have fun! Enjoy the "bloopers" in the credits that Hudson put in as a reward.