Steelswiping is the act of pushing steel blocks in a horizontal direction, as a way of killing enemies or accessing alternate paths in Kid Chameleon. Only Berzerker is able to pull this off with his unique charging ability.
How it is Done[]
Unlike rock, prize, or ice blocks (which are destroyed), steel blocks can actually be pushed when charged by Berzerker. When charging straight at them, a column of two blocks will travel in the charged direction indefinitely until colliding with a solid object or the screen margin. If there are several columns of steel blocks stacked behind each other, only the farthest blocks will be pushed by Berzerker.
Enemies cannot stop the steel blocks. Instead, the blocks move through them, completely disintegrating their body and killing them instantly.
Some steel blocks could be disguised as a drill block, and drill blocks cannot be steelswiped. The least thing these can do to Berzerker is making him bleed. Remember some drill blocks could also simply be programmed to not have drills come out in any direction. If you come across steel blocks that don't seem to budge, they could be this or fake steels.
Fake steel blocks are actually disguised platforms and therefore cannot be steelswiped either.
Swiping One or Three Blocks[]
Simply charging into steel blocks, as stated above, will cause a set of two steel blocks, one stacked on top of the other, to travel horizontally indefinitely until meeting an obstacle. However, you can steelswipe only one block if you begin your charging animation and then crawl to the target block. Conversely, you can also steelswipe an additional third block when jumping on the exact frame that the blocks are charged, although this is slightly inconsistent due to a pixel position requirement as well.
Enemies[]
Steelswiping enemies has advantages over simply charging them, in that there is absolutely no inhibition and enemies that normally cannot be charged, namely hands and tanks, are instantly killed. Air enemies can also be steelswiped, however due to buggy collision properties, Spheres can appear to pass right through them.
Accessing Alternate Paths[]
In Isle of the Lion Lord, performing a crouching steelswipe from the right side of the upper-right steel block column will send one block to the left margin of the level. Standing halfway off this block and then jumping will actually reveal the first Bridge of the game! No Cyclone required!
In The Whispering Woods 2, if you were able to keep the Berzerker helmet from Elsewhere 5, all you have to do is simply steelswipe the wall to the right, and you can reach the flag in under a second!
If you don't want to give up your Berzerker helmet at the start of Devil's Marsh 1, you can actually steelswipe the floor with some tricky jumps onto the steel blocks that put you in a running state. A demonstration of this can be found in the Maximum Levels TAS.
Though the fastest way through Whale Grotto is to simply fly up to the flag with Cyclone, there's a mini shortcut with Berzerker immediately after taking the first teleporter. To your right, there will be a wall of steel blocks which can be swiped out of your way, which saves having to go around the long platform the long way.
A simple steelswipe at the end of Forced Entry will give you access to the "Too Bad" sign.
Near the last section of Scorpion Isle at the bottom, there's a chamber containing 19 diamonds and a third teleport to The Hills Have Eyes. It is only intended to be accessed with a Micromax helmet, the last one available being all the way back from The Nightmare Peaks 1! However, if you use Berzerker to swipe any of the steel blocks above the room to the right, you can slip through the ceiling. Crawling through the left wall at the end of the spike row will then allow you access into the elusive chamber!
There's a TAS-only technique to beating Ice God's Vengeance, which involves abusing Berzerker's ability to steelswipe three blocks at the steel block columns at the end of the level. It's very complicated and messy, but if you've somehow found a way to reach the end teleporter, you can bring Berzerker into Beneath the Twisted Hills, charge the end wall, and reach the flag in an extremely fast time.
Bugs[]
- If you enter any transformation state while the steel blocks are moving, the blocks will actually disappear from existence! Check out the gif for an example of this in The Forbidden Tombs.
- Some enemies have certain states in which they are invulnerable to steelswiping. Examples include, the Lion's attacking or the Spinning Twins' separation animations.
- Tanks cannot be steelswiped if a steel block only passes through its lower half. This can be see near the start of Diamond Edge.