============================
VIRTUAL ON: ORATORIO TANGRAM
HOW TO WIN AGAINST THE CPU
============================
Written by Graham Fredrick < fredga01 @ holmes.ipfw.edu >
Disclaimer: This document may be posted to any websites as long as none of the
content is altered. You may not sell this document or publish the contents
without the permission of the author. Copyright 2000 Graham Fredrick
Revision History:
6-8-2000 ver 0.1 3 VR's completed
6-15-2000 ver 0.5 7 VR's completed
6-27-2000 ver 1.0 All 11 VR's completed, slight additions to the General
Advice concerning Bradtos and Tangram, and added stuff
about Ajim
***
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Abbreviations
3. General Advice
4. VR Strategies
RAIDEN
TEMJIN
CYPHER
BAL-SERIES
FEI YEN KN
SPECINEFF
APHARMD B
APHARMD S
ANGELAN
DORDRAY
GRYS-VOK
5. Fighting Ajim
6. Other Stuff
===============
1. Introduction
===============
First of all, it is important to know that I am a total beginner when it
comes to playing Virtual On. I played the original a couple times in the
arcade and got a chance to play a little of the import version of Virtual On 2
for the Dreamcast, but I am nowhere near an expert when it comes to playing.
This FAQ is geared to people who are more or less new to the game and
want to learn how to beat the computer, which unlocks various secrets such as
an earlier revision of the game (5.2) and a special ending movie. Although
this guide is geared for the beginner player, I would strongly advise any new
player to check out DLC's guide available at www.gamefaqs.com, which does a
great job of explaining how to control the game.
I decided to write this FAQ because even though there is already one at
Gamefaqs, I still had trouble beating the bosses and felt that certain points
were not clear. As a result, this FAQ will contain complete descriptions of
my fights against the bosses so that hopefully you can follow the same
strategies that I used. You may notice that this guide seems to be written
out of order. I decided to arrange the character sections in the order in
which I used them to beat the game with, as my skill increased as I beat the
game with the successive characters.
================
2. Abbreviations
================
I am using the standard Dreamcast pad with the default control setup (A), so
some of the controls in the abbreviations may be different depending on your
setup.
Abbreviation: Definition:
VO Virtual On - The first in the series, ported to the Saturn
VOOT Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram - The sequel, ported to the
Dreamcast
CPU Computer - Who you fight against in the one player game
VR Virtuaroid - The big robot machine that you are controlling
LW Left Weapon - The Left Trigger on the control pad (L)
RW Right Weapon - The Right Trigger on the control pad (R)
CW Central Weapon - Both Triggers on the control pad (L+R)
LT Left Turbo - X on the control pad, can make the VR dash
RT Right Turbo - B on the control pad, can make the VR dash
m Meters - This refers to the distance you are from your
opponent as noted on the screen in tiny little numbers
The weapon and turbo buttons can be combined to shoot modified forms of the
weapons. For instance, RTCW means to press B, L, and R at the same time.
This usually produces a stronger version of the Weapon attack.
=================
3. General Advice
=================
I set the game options for the one player mode to single round wins and
no time limit (Deathmatch). I also turned the difficulty all the way down to
1, because I need all the help I can get. Some people may prefer to set the
timer to 90 seconds, but I seriously dislike losing to the CPU by a time out.
Before you take each character into battle, spend some time in the
Training mode so that you can get familiar with all of the weapons of the VR
and how well it can move around. Also, spend some time practicing the Right
Turbo and Left Turbo weapons. These attacks can be quite powerful, but also
require you to be standing still to shoot them. Otherwise, you would get a
dashing attack instead of a Turbo attack. Don't worry about trying to
manually rotate your VR with the Analog stick as it is actually not the best
way to turn towards your enemy; both jumps and dash attacks (firing a weapon
while dashing) will automatically turn you to face the enemy. Jumps are
almost always the safest choice because you can then hold in Crouch to quickly
return to the ground.
When fighting Bradtos and Tangram, being precise when pressing RTCW or
RTRW is very important. Also, since the Left and Right Weapon buttons are set
to the L and R triggers, it isn't always easy to fire them at the same. The
triggers need to be pressed a certain amount for the CPU to recognize it, so
you have to practice hitting the turbo buttons and weapon triggers. Also,
unless I talk SPECIFICALLY about dashing, you should NOT do a dash or dash
attack (fire any weapon while dashing) against the bosses. The reason for
this is that when your dash ends, you are left immobile for a second and the
bosses can get a free shot in.
Bradtos can be a pain the first time you fight him, but as you grow
accustomed to his attack pattern he will become much easier. His arena has a
low ceiling, so jumping is not really a good evasive tactic. Once you get a
mental map of the octagon-shaped arena, you should avoid unnecessary movements
(like pausing to rotate) which can get you shot. Most VR's move fastest when
they are moving up or diagonally up; moving to the side, backwards, or
diagonally backwards will cause you to move slower. This is most obvious with
Dordray, who travels very slowly when moving to the side and travels faster
when going up/right or up/left. Keep this in mind when the round starts
because Bradtos will be shooting right at you.
He starts the round by shooting repeated laser shots from each of his sides,
which tend to home in on your position. After that he fires a series of
rectangular "hurdles" at you, which he can toss in the air if you are jumping.
He then shoots another set of repeating lasers and another series of hurdles.
Bradtos will then stop and his top will separate from his bottom to reveal his
weak point: a green gem. The ONLY way to do damage to Bradtos is to hit that
green gem with your weapons.
A short time after the gem is revealed, it starts shooting spread lasers at
your position. The first shot is always directed right at you, subsequent
shots may or may not be directed right at you. If you keep a distance of 300m
or so, you should have plenty of time to see how to dodge between the laser
shots. After several spread shots, Bradtos will close again and set up his
next attack. You can stop firing once he shuts, as he will NOT be damaged by
any attacks once the gem is hidden.
Now Bradtos shoots some more hurdles, followed by a stream of CD's (?). These
seem to be shot out of his "corners" and are usually pointed right at you.
Usually, you have to dodge harder to avoid these than you did with his initial
laser streams. He will then shoot some more hurdles before opening a second
time. If Bradtos is low on life at this point (less than 50%?) he will do a
slight variation of his normal spread ray. He will alternate between firing
spread lasers and cluster lasers. You can't really dodge in between the
cluster shots, so the best thing to do at this point is to simply walk left
and right to dodge the shots while firing your weapons.
Bradtos mixes up his weapons for the next few sequences of attacks, although
typically either Bradtos or I never survived past the second opening. If you
do manage to stay alive for the entire 90 second match and you have more life
than Bradtos, you will win by Time-Out. However, winning this way is more
work than it's worth.
Tangram is definitely harder than Bradtos, because you must destroy him
before the 90 seconds timer is up or you automatically lose the game and don't
get a chance to continue! Fortunately if you die, you can still continue.
Also, his laser attacks hurt much more than Bradtos', especially the big
"Megalaser." At least Tangram follows a fairly set pattern of
attacks, so the more you face him the easier it gets.
Tangram's arena is different from all other arenas in the game. You are
fighting him inside of a giant sphere, and the edge of the sphere acts as a
ring edge. The lack of any easy-to-recognize landmarks can make it hard to
see what direction the VR's are going, and I had trouble trying to figure out
which way I was going in some of my replays. I'm not sure, but it seems that
when you Dash into the ring edge, sometimes you will automatically turn to
face Tangram as if you had jumped. Another thing to note is that your
controls change slightly. Pressing Jump makes you fly vertically upwards, and
pressing Crouch makes you dip downwards. Your VR's attacks will also be
modified; since you are constantly in flight, your VR uses air attacks.
Dordray's RTRW is a good example: when used on the ground, it is a
Flamethrower but when used during a jump or against Tangram, it is an
Exploding Fireball.
Tangram starts the round by ejecting four tentacles and zooming around the
arena, usually straight at you or to your left. The tentacles fire three sets
of purple rings that do OK damage, and also shoot slow purple orbs that home
well but generally miss you completely as long as you keep moving around. The
tentacles themselves sometimes have electrical "sparks" on them, but you
should be able to avoid these as long as you aren't right next to Tangram.
Although Tangram is completely covered in armor, you can still begin the round
with a strong attack that will nick a little health off of him.
After shooting three sets of rings, part of Tangram's armor will shoot off
accompanied by some white light and a couple ring shots. The tentacles will
retract and Tangram will usually turn to face you. His open spot is his weak
point; you don't have to wait for the eye to appear before you cut lose with
your heavy artillery. A second or two after the eye opens up, he will shoot
three sets of cluster lasers (similar to Bradtos' cluster lasers when his life
is low). If you keep a medium distance (about 350m), you can dodge the shots
by moving, or by side dashing and then canceling the dash (hit a Turbo button
while you are dashing). Jumping can also work if you time it right and your
VR is mobile enough.
After the third set of cluster lasers, Tangram will pause for a moment giving
you a free shot at his eye. But don't get too greedy, as the eye will soon
turn blue and shoot out a huge Megalaser that will knock off about 80-100% of
your life. Tangram will try to target you with the laser, so you should be
constantly moving to the side while he shoots. You may be better off getting
closer to Tangram (about 200-250m). Since Tangram is just rotating, you can
move faster relative to the beam than you would if you were 400m out.
Whatever you do, NEVER jump when Tangram is shooting the Megalaser. It will
instantly home into your direction and there will be nothing you can do to
avoid getting hit. When the Megalaser stops firing, you can do a jump attack
to center yourself on the eye. At this point Tangram will just sit there
until the armor reforms, so use up all of your ammo here. If you haven't
reduced Tangram to about 50% by now, you should probably die on purpose so
that you can continue and try again. Remember, if the time runs out and
Tangram is still alive, you AUTOMATICALLY get the "bad" ending.
After the armor reforms, Tangram simply repeats the same pattern of attack: 3
sets of rings, removes armor, 3 cluster lasers, Megalaser, armor reforms. Be
careful with the Megalaser as it is ending, since it becomes very thin and
blue. You can still get hit for full damage even when the beam is almost done
firing, and its blue color can be hard to distinguish from the background.
================
4. VR Strategies
================
Here I have transcribed my actual battles with Bradtos and Tangram with
the various VR's. Some of the names for the special moves come from DLC's
FAQ, and others are from various websites.
Note: You can save all of your (winning) battles against the CPU
opponents after defeating Tangram by going to the "Replay" choice on the Main
Menu and choosing "Last Game." At any time during this replay, you can press
start to bring up the menu and then exit. Upon exiting, you will be asked if
you want to save the replay to your VMU. Now you can watch your entire run
through the Arcade mode at any time! With my settings (1 round, Deathmatch),
each file requires 21-24 blocks. Remember, the file will only contain matches
in which you won so if you have a spectacular finish or something weird
happens in a match that you did not win, you should save the individual replay
separately.
======
RAIDEN
======
Raiden vs. Bradtos-
At the opening, I Dashed down/right to avoid the laser streams, then
Dashed up/right. When I heard the hurdles being released from Bradtos, I
Jumped, Dashed to the left, and promptly got struck by some laser shots and
gates. I tried Dashing to the right, but I still took a few more hits. I was
able to Jump and then Dash to the left to avoid the final two hurdles.
Bradtos was just about to open up and I was standing at a distance of 180m. I
shot a CW and then tried to avoid the spread lasers by moving back and forth.
However, I was way too close to avoid them on reaction, not to mention that
Raiden is so tall that he blocked my view. I got hit by one spread and
waited for my CW to recharge. I released another CW during the last spread,
but I wasn't aimed correctly and only hit the gem with my left-side laser.
Bradtos then closed up.
Before the next set of hurdles came out, I Dashed to the left, then Dashed
forward which made me run into a hurdle. I avoided the CD stream by moving
up/right and then right. When I saw a hurdle appear behind me, I Dashed right
and then down to avoid it and the second CD attack. For the last set of
hurdles I Dashed down/left leaving me quite close to Bradtos (80m).
Since I was very close to Bradtos and low on health (33%), I shot a CW as soon
as he opened up which drained the rest of his health.
I was still pretty new to the game when I tried to beat it with Raiden. I see
now that I should have stood farther back in order to correctly dodge the
spread laser shots.
Raiden Vs. Tangram-
Since Raiden was one of the first VR's I had tried to beat the game with,
I wasn't quite prepared for Tangram and ended up using a lot of continues.
Anyways, during Tangram's initial attack, I blindly and randomly Dashed
forwards, backwards, left, and right all in an effort to stay far away from
the boss. I got tagged with a few rings by the time Tangram ejected his
armor, but I was still at 82% health.
I was 230m away from Tangram when I fired a single RW followed by a RTCW
(Screw Laser). The eye opened as I fired a RTRW (Big Bazooka Shot), and I
Dashed to the left narrowly avoiding the first cluster laser. The second and
third clusters missed me due to the Dash. I then Jumped so that I would face
Tangram and immediately shot a CW when I was 300m away. I saw Tangram's eye
turn blue, so I Dashed to the left and released some RW shots.
As the Megalaser came closer, I shot a Right-Half Central Weapon (Press both
Weapon buttons and release the left one immediately). When the Megalaser
ended, I shot another RTRW (Big Bazooka Shot) followed by a RTCW (Screw Laser)
and one more RTRW (Big Bazooka Shot). The armor reformed around Tangram, and
he had 26% health left. I shot one more CW at the armored Tangram which
nicked 1% off.
For Tangram's next attack wave, I repeated my method of random Dashing,
although this time I Dashed in a large square formation: left twice, up twice,
right twice, down twice. I got smacked with a couple rings and orbs as a
result, but I still had 41% health left when Tangram released his armor for
the second time.
I was 380m away when I Dashed to the side and shot a LW so that I would
automatically turn to face Tangram. I followed that up with a RTRW (Big
Bazooka Shot) and a RTCW (Screw Laser). When the first laser cluster was
fired, I Dashed to the left and held in the RW button to release a stream of
rockets that destroyed Tangram.
I had a lot of trouble fighting the CPU, especially versus Bradtos and
Tangram. I just wasn't used to their attack patterns yet, ending up with a
final time of 29 minutes and 40 seconds. Ouch...
======
TEMJIN
======
Temjin Vs. Bradtos-
I started the match by walking to the right and then Dashing to the
right. I quickly canceled the dash (press either Turbo button while in a
Dash) when I reached the stage edge and began walking forward to dodge the
laser shots. When Bradtos shot out his hurdles, I dashed diagonally up/left.
When Bradtos shot his second set of laser streams, I did a series of repeated
Dash cancels to the left, then down/left, and then down to avoid the laser
shots and second volley of hurdles. When I saw the last hurdle pass me by, I
released a Dashing LW grenade so that I would turn to face Bradtos.
When Bradtos opened up, I was at a distance of 230m. I shot a RTRW (Laser
Beam) and got smacked with Bradtos' first spread laser. I moved left and
right in an attempt to dodge the other spread lasers, but I got hit again.
When I spied an open spot in one of the spread lasers, I shot another RTRW
(Laser Beam). I then moved left and right again to avoid the last two spread
lasers. When Bradtos closed, he was at 50% health.
When the next wave of hurdles came, I Dashed up/right and then up/left which
also allowed me to avoid the CD stream. When the next wave of hurdles came, I
moved down/left. Bradtos then shot his CD stream and I Dashed down/left to
avoid it. When the next hurdle came by, I just jumped over it. Bradtos moved
to the left, so I followed until he stopped to open up.
I was 200m away when I fired a RTRW (Laser Beam) at the gem. I quickly
followed up with another RTRW (Laser Beam). Bradtos shot a spread laser which
hit me, but I shot a regular RW to finish him off.
Even though I took a few hits firing the RTRW, I still think that it is
Temjin's best weapon to use against Bradtos.
Temjin Vs. Tangram-
At this time in my learning curve, I was still experimenting with how to
fight against Tangram. My strategy for avoiding his initial rings and orbs
was
to do a series of Dashes which I quickly canceled (press any Turbo button
again while Dashing). I opened the match by doing a string of dash cancels in
more or less random directions: right, forward, right, back, right, forward,
right, back, left, forward, right, back, right, back (did you get all that?
:). Basically I made a series of 90 degree turns, trying to keep Tangram as
far away as possible during this period. I also was not injured during this.
After my mad dashing, Tangram shot off his armor and I did a Jump so that I
would be turned to face him. At a distance of 380m I shot a RTRW (Laser Beam)
followed by a CW shot. I then dashed to the left and fired a LW to keep my
lock-on and avoid the first cluster laser. The second cluster laser narrowly
missed me as I moved to the left, and I Jumped to avoid the third cluster
laser and to reorient myself to face Tangram. I then fired a RTRW (Laser
Beam) at a distance of 350m and immediately moved to the left to avoid the
Megalaser.
When Tangram was way off the screen, I Jumped to face him. I accidentally
shot a RW while attempting a RTRW (Laser Beam), and followed that with a CW
shot. After that, I had enough energy to shoot a RTRW (Laser Beam) and tacked
on another CW. I shot one last RTRW (Laser Beam) as the eye disappeared and
the armor reformed. At this point, Tangram had 48% life left.
When the next wave of rings and orbs started, I moved back to 500m and
repeated my tactic of random Dashes and cancels: right, forward, back, back,
left, forward, right, back, left, right, back. At this point, Tangram
released his armor, and I Jumped so that I would be facing him.
At a distance of 400m, I shot a RTRW (Laser Beam) followed by a CW which was
fired just before Tangram's first cluster laser. I narrowly escaped by
Dashing to the left, which also allowed me to avoid the second cluster laser.
I then Jumped to avoid the third cluster laser, and shot another RTRW (Laser
Beam) from 250m away.
Tangram fired his Megalaser, and I evaded it by Dashing up/left. Since I was
so close to Tangram (230m), I didn't have to dodge the rest of the Megalaser,
and I had time to shoot a RTRW (Laser Beam) while the Megalaser was finishing
up. I followed that with a LW and a couple RW to finish Tangram off.
Even though I had read that Temjin was one of the easiest characters to use
against Tangram, I had to continue several times and nearly timed out. My
final time was a not so great 22 minutes and 20 seconds.
======
CYPHER
======
Cypher Vs. Bradtos-
I began by walking backwards and to the right so that I would be on the
edge of the ring, firing a set of daggers (which were useless). I then walked
up and right to avoid the laser shots until I heard the sound of the hurdles
being released. I then Jumped and quickly hit Crouch to cancel the jump so
that I would be facing Bradtos. A side effect of this is that I jumped one
hurdle and ducked under a second because Bradtos had been aiming at me during
my jump. I then moved up/right to avoid the second set of laser shots,
Jumping and hitting Crouch again to face Bradtos. I then got hit with a
couple of the laser shots as Bradtos began to release hurdles. I Jumped the
first set of hurdles, again hitting Crouch to cancel the jump and the second
set flew over my head.
I was at a distance of 150m when Bradtos opened up. I shot a Crouch CW (4-Way
Homing) and attempted to follow up with a RTRW (Laser Beam) but messed up the
motion and shot a single RW. I then walked back to 250m, anticipating the
laser spread. The first one hit me, but I then shot a RTRW (Laser Beam). The
delay on the beam caused me to get hit again, at which point I fell down with
20% life left to Bradtos' 63%. As I got up the laser spread was finishing, so
I shot a RTCW (Exploding Homing Beam) followed by a RTRW (Laser Beam) which
was JUST a little too late.
As Bradtos tossed some more hurdles at me, I shot another RTRW (Laser Beam) at
him, just because it looked cool to see the shot deflected in multiple
directions. I jumped to avoid both sets of hurdles and Dashed to the right to
avoid the CD streams. I heard the hurdles being released as I landed, so I
dashed up/left to avoid them. When I heard the CD's being shot, I dashed
down/left. When the next set of hurdles came out, I dashed down leaving me in
prime position to hit Bradtos when he opened up.
I Jumped and then canceled so that I could get a lock-on at 200m away. As
Bradtos opened up, I shot a RTCW (Exploding Homing Beam). I then moved
backwards to avoid the first cluster laser, and at 280m I shot a RTRW (Laser
Beam) which finished off Bradtos.
Despite a rocky start, I was able to pull through for the second opening and
win. If I hadn't been so eager to shoot RTRW (Laser Beams) during the first
opening, I would probably have fared better. Also, the RTCW (Exploding Homing
Beam) may have destroyed some laser shots during the second opening.
Cypher Vs. Tangram-
At the beginning of the round, I let Tangram move in on me to about 150m
and fired a CW shot. When his tentacles ejected, I moved away to 400m and
dashed to the side when I heard Tangram firing rings. I then moved left until
I heard the next set of rings which I dashed right to avoid. After that, I
moved and dashed backwards to 500m, avoiding more rings and the purple balls.
I did get tagged with a couple rings when Tangram released his armor.
I Jumped so that I would be facing him at a distance of 480m, and then shot a
RTRW (Laser Beam). I shot another RTRW (Laser Beam) as the eye appeared and
then moved to the left to avoid the first cluster laser. When I heard the
third cluster laser being shot, I Jumped to get a lock on Tangram at 300m. I
shot another RTRW (Laser Beam) followed by a CW shot right as Tangram shot his
Megalaser. I then moved left and dashed, firing my LW so that I would be
turned to face Tangram. The Megalaser was shooting directly to the right and
soon died out, so I wasn't in any real danger.
As Tangram turned to face me, I accidentally shot a RW, but quickly followed
that with a RTRW (Laser Beam), a RTCW (Exploding Homing Beam), followed by
three successive RTRW (Laser Beam) shots. When the armor reformed, Tangram
was left with 38% health.
I retreated back to 400m, waiting for the ring shots. When they fired, I
dashed forward. When the second set fired, I dashed backwards. When the
third set fired, I dashed forward again. When the last set fired and Tangram
released his armor, I did a Dash to the left and shot my LW to reorient myself
to face Tangram.
When the dark area was facing me, I shot two RTRW's(Laser Beams) followed by a
CW shot. I moved to the left to avoid the first two cluster shots and Jumped
to avoid the third. I then let out accidentally a stream of RW shots instead
of a RTRW (Laser Beam). Since the Megalaser was about to be fired, I moved to
the left quickly.
After moving for a few seconds, I Jumped so that I would be facing Tangram.
When the Megalaser ran out, I shot a CW followed by some more accidental RW
shots. I paused for a second and finally did another RTRW (Laser Beam) which
left Tangram with .5% health. As the eye was closing, I shot a stream of RW
shots to finish him off.
Although this battle went down to the wire, I could have finished Tangram off
much quicker if I had been more precise entering in the RTRW command. My
final time with Cypher was 23 minutes and 55 seconds (not too good).
==========
BAL-SERIES
==========
Bal Vs. Bradtos-
I started the match by immediately ejecting my Left Arm (LTLW), then
walked up-right to avoid the laser shots. When they ended, I messed up
ejecting my Right Arm (LTRW) and shot a couple RW rings instead, taking a
couple hurdles to the back. As the second laser stream started up, I ejected
my Right Arm and walked down-left taking a few laser shots in the process but
avoiding all the hurdles, leaving me with 58% health. I then tried to eject
my Left Leg (Crouch LTLW) but again messed up the motion and shot out some
bouncing mines. I then successfully ejected my Left Leg as Bradtos opened up,
and ejected my Right Leg (Crouch LTRW) before the spread lasers came out.
Then at a distance of 220m and with all of my gauges at 100%, I Jumped and
pressed RTCW to shoot Bal's special Reflect Lasers. Luckily, Bal's dancing
made him evade the first laser which was headed straight for me! Meanwhile,
the reflect lasers were ripping Bradtos apart. Next thing I know, bye bye
Bradtos.
I really like using this VR, but he's not exactly my favorite when facing
Bradtos; I just have trouble dodging everything. I did notice during the
Reflect Laser special that the shots seemed to cancel some of Bradtos' spread
lasers. If I had positioned myself better (so that my ejected Legs were
between me and Bradtos) that I would have been much safer.
Bal Vs. Tangram-
Bal has a special weapon against Tangram only that makes killing him a
snap, but you must have your arms ejected to perform it. I began the round by
ejecting my Left Arm (LTLW) and Right Arm (LTRW). I then moved forward until
I was about 500m away from Tangram. When I heard the rings being shot, I
moved to the right and then dashed back. I moved away to 500m, waiting for
the sound of the rings being shot out. When that happened, I dashed back
again. Once more, I moved out to 500m and dashed when I heard the rings fire.
At this time, Tangram moved in real close to about 150m ejecting his armor, so
I dashed back to 500m and jumped to get a lock-on. I then immediately
performed a Jump RTCW to do his special "Black Hole Bomb". At first I wasn't
sure if this was doing anything or not, but if you see an electric beam
between your ejected arms, then it is firing.
While Tangram shot his cluster lasers, I moved left and up/left to dodge the
lasers and move in at the same time. After the 3rd set of lasers, my Arms had
returned so I shot a few piddly rings and mines while moving left to avoid the
Megalaser. When that was done, I quickly ejected both of my Arms and did
another Jump RTCW (Black Hole Bomb) which landed just before the eye shut,
leaving him with 47.5% health. I ejected my Arms (LTLW, then LTRW) again and
then simply moved to the right, keeping a distance of 350m.
It seems that Bal can move quite well in this form, and I was able to dodge
EVERYTHING Tangram shot until he ejected his armor for the second time. When
I saw the armor break, I immediately did a Jump RTCW to reorient myself and
shoot the Black Hole Bomb at the same time at a distance of 450m. I then
moved left to avoid the cluster lasers, getting tagged by one because I wasn't
thinking quickly. As I moved left I released some LW mines. When the second
Megalaser came out, Tangram was at 18% health and I was way ahead of the
laser, so I shot a couple of RW rings. When the laser ended, I shot a LTCW
(Chest Laser) to finish Tangram off. I would have had a perfect if I had been
a little more careful.
Compared to fighting Bradtos with Bal, I think Tangram is much easier. My
final time was 16 minutes and 30 seconds
==========
FEI YEN KN
==========
Fei Yen Vs. Bradtos-
I began by walking backwards and to the right, gradually moving
counterclockwise around the ring edge to avoid the laser stream. I got tagged
with a hurdle and panicked; I then jumped and did a side air dash which
resulted in me getting pegged with a couple of laser shots and another hurdle.
By this time Bradtos was about to open, so I jump-canceled (hit Jump and then
Crouch) to reorient myself at 250m out. I then shot a RTCW (Super Heart
Beam). I then held in the RW button as a walked left and right between the
shots in the laser spread.
As Bradtos closed, he was at 44% health. I then began walking
counterclockwise around the edge of the arena, jumping only to avoid the
hurdles. As I was landing, I thought the CD streams would definitely hit me,
but maybe I was too close to Bradtos as they all missed. I walked away but
got tagged in the back by 3 more hurdles, which activated my Hyper Mode
(automatically happens when your life drops below 50%).
When Bradtos opened for the second time, I jump canceled to regain a lock-on
and fired a RTCW (Super Heart Beam) right as Bradtos opened, at a distance of
350m. I then held in the RW button and walked to the side to avoid the
cluster and spread lasers. Bradtos then quickly died.
In retrospect, I think I should have intentionally gotten hit more early in
the match so that I would be in Hyper Mode for the first Opening.
Fei Yen Vs. Tangram-
As the round began, I dashed to the right and tried to keep my distance
from Tangram. When the ring shots came near, I tried to get them to hit me so
that I would go into Hyper Mode, but it seemed like when I tried to move
towards the rings they all flew past me. Oh well.
When Tangram blew off its armor, I jumped to regain a lock-on at 350m. I shot
a RTCW (Super Heart Beam) and then held in my RW to keep a continuous flow of
shots on the eye. I moved to the left to avoid the first set of cluster
lasers and jumped to avoid the 2nd set and also to regain a lock-on. I moved
left again to avoid the last set, all the while shooting RW shots.
Right before Tangram cut loose with the Megalaser, I shot a normal CW at 300m
out. I immediately moved to the left narrowly missing the Megalaser and shot
some more RW shots. Right as the Megalaser ended, I shot a RTCW (Super Heart
Beam) at the eye, followed up with some more RW shots, a couple LW shots, and
a RTRW (Power Hand Beam, which I should have probably been saving my RW ammo
for). Tangram reformed his armor with 52.4% and I thought that this match
might be close.
I dashed away to about 500m and Tangram flew at me firing ring shots. I
waited in place and let some of them hit me, staying at about 200m. I
suddenly got jolted down to 23% life, so I decided to get the heck out of
there. I moved backwards in a zig-zag pattern until I was 500m away, which
was when Tangram ejected his armor a second time.
I then jumped and shot a CW into the eye space, followed by some RTRW (Power
Hand Beam) shots. As I moved to the left avoiding the cluster lasers, I shot
a couple LW shots and a CW shot. When Tangram fired the Megalaser, I shot a
couple RW as I moved and was actually way ahead of the Megalaser. I then
decided to shoot a RTRW which finished off Tangram.
This was overall pretty easy, and the only fight so far with Tangram where I
won on my first try! My final time was 15 minutes and 55 seconds
=========
SPECINEFF
=========
Specineff Vs. Bradtos-
I started out with a Slide Attack (Fwd Dash, Down+Crouch+CW) just for
kicks. I DO NOT recommend that you do this, although it will take down Bradtos
to about 50% if the gem is open, plus it looks pretty cool.
Anyways, as a result of sliding under Bradtos I got shot several times in the
back and had all my weapons drained. I began walking around the ring in a
counterclockwise fashion which resulted in me getting hit with a couple
hurdles. As Bradtos was about to open, my CW gauge was at 100% and my RW was
at 70%, so I did a jump cancel (Jump, then press Crouch) and a CW scythe on
the gem at a distance of 290m. I then walked backwards while I held in the RW
button, dodging between the spread lasers at about 390m. When my CW gauge got
back to 100%, I shot another CW scythe. With some more RW shots he went down.
Overall, pretty easy.
Specineff Vs. Tangram-
I opened with a RTCW (Big Scythe Wave) which actually did 1.6% damage.
I then retreated to 390 meters (getting struck with a few rings along the way.
I jumped to reorient myself to Tangram, and when the second set of rings
fired, I dashed to the side. After the dash, I was at 480m and jumped again
to reorient myself. When the next set of rings came near, I side dashed
again. As I jumped again, Tangram shed it's armor and I did a side dash which
I quickly canceled (tap the Turbo button while dashing) and jumped again.
I was at 480m when I shot a RTCW (Big Scythe Wave) at the closed eye,
following up with 3 RW shots. I held the RW button in as I moved to the left,
and the eye opened. Right as the 2nd set of cluster lasers was passing by, I
jumped to maintain a lock on the eye. I then moved left to avoid the 3rd set
of cluster lasers. As the RW gauge ran out, I had 100% in my CW gauge so I
shot another RTCW (Big Scythe Wave) just as the eye turned blue.
I was at a distance of 380m when the Megalaser fired, so I moved to the
left while firing a couple more RW shots. As the laser disappeared, I shot
another RTCW (Big Scythe Wave) and about 5 more RW shots. At this time, I was
about 500M away and Tangram had 22.6 % health left, so I knew I was on a roll.
As the armor reformed, I shot a RTLW (Blackhole) for no particular reason
while Tangram zoomed right at me. I dashed to the right to avoid and jumped
to regain a lock-on. I repeated the pattern above of waiting for the rings to
come near me, side dashing to avoid them, and jumping to regain a lock-on. As
the armor broke for the 2nd time, I was at 480m. I shot a RTCW (Big Scythe
Wave), then moved to the left as I held in the RW to avoid the spread lasers.
And then Tangram was toast! All in all, he was pretty easy to beat and I had
plenty of time to spare. My final time was 14 minutes and 54 seconds, my best
time so far.
=========
APHARMD B
=========
Note: The very first time I tried to beat the game, I used Apharmd B.
However, when I was playing I didn't realize that I had accidentally set the
difficulty to Level 8. This resulted in me using a ton of continues and
getting very frustrated, netting me a finishing time of 35 minutes and 19
seconds. I also hadn't discovered how to save the entire vs. CPU game replay,
so I wasn't able to analyze my performance. Because of this, I played through
the game again with Apharmd B on Difficulty level 1 and fared much better.
Apharmd B Vs. Bradtos-
This can be a very quick battle if you time your attacks well. Apharmd
B can actually use his close combat CW to damage the bosses, although you must
be close enough so that the CW bar turns yellow. This is your best bet,
because most of your other weapons don't do very much damage.
When the battle began, I walked right and then up/right to avoid Bradtos'
laser shot. I then continued walking along the ring area in a
counterclockwise motion, staying just inside the black area on the ground. I
was walking up/left when I heard Bradtos shooting the hurdles, and when the
laser shots began again, I got tagged in the back by one. The laser shots
were getting quite close, so I jumped right as they ended which let two
hurdles
run into me.
Bradtos was moving away after the hurdles, and I continued to walk towards
him. I saw my CW gauge turn yellow, so I knew I was close enough to use my CW
strikes. The very second that I saw Bradtos turn red and open up, I pressed
CW to do the dashing strike. I kept pressing the CW again and again, taking a
couple of spread laser shots in the process. It took about 5 to finish off
Bradtos.
The important thing when fighting here is to do as many close range CW strikes
as you can. Even though you may get hit with some spread lasers, you won't be
knocked down and can continue hitting with the CW.
Apharmd B Vs. Tangram-
Having to play the game through again with Apharmd B has shown me how
important it is to be familiar with Tangram's attacks. Since Apharmd B does
the most damage when he is at point-blank range, you'll have to move in close
during Tangram's most powerful attacks.
I began the fight by moving right until I got to a distance of 500m. When I
heard the first set of rings being shot, I waited a little bit before Dashing
down. I then moved to the right as Tangram moved towards me. When the second
set of rings fired, I Dashed up/right and jumped to reorient myself. I saw
the next set of rings headed straight for me, so I Dashed to the left. When
the last set of rings fired, I jumped so that I would be facing Tangram. This
allowed a couple of rings to hit me as I moved forward.
The second I saw my gauge turn yellow, I hit CW to do Apharmd B's close range
attack. The eye was opening up just as I hit, so I quickly Dashed to the left
and Jumped to avoid the first cluster laser. As the jump ended, I Dashed to
the left to avoid the second cluster. I Jumped again so that I would turn to
face Tangram, but the third cluster shot grazed me.
When Tangram turned to face me, I did one close range CW and quickly Dashed to
the left to avoid the Megalaser. When I heard it fire, I Jumped so I could
see where it was aimed. It seemed to be pointing at my original location, and
hardly moved to track me. I dashed to the left and fired a LW just to be
safe. When I saw the Megalaser end, I moved forward and did four consecutive
close range CW strikes. After the armor reformed, I tried one more close
range CW strike but it totally missed.
After that, I moved to the right to 250m and Dashed back to avoid the first
rings. I then moved left to 300m and Dashed back to avoid the second set of
rings, Jumping to regain a lock-on; unfortunately, my jump allowed one of the
rings to hit me. I then Dashed to the right and fired off some RW bullets so
that I would turn to face Tangram. When the third set of rings came near, I
Dashed to the left and fired my RW again so that I would be facing Tangram.
When I heard the armor break off, I Jumped and fired a RTLW (Flipping Soccer
Bomb) but also got hit by some more rings.
I then moved forward and did a close range CW on Tangram's eye. Immediately
after the attack, I moved to the left narrowly missing a cluster laser. I
then moved up/right to avoid the second cluster laser. When I heard the third
cluster laser, I Dashed up/right and fired some RW shots so that I would avoid
the cluster laser and also turn to face Tangram. I was now at a distance of
300m.
I fired a RTLW (Soccer Bomb) before the Megalaser fired and then moved left.
When I got past Tangram, I Dashed forward and shot some RW bullets so that I
would turn to face the boss. The Megalaser was pointed well away from me, so
I moved forward. When the Megalaser ended, I didn't even wait for Tangram to
turn and face me before I did a close range CW. When Tangram finally turned
towards me, one more close range CW killed him.
As a result of my increasing skill and my previous experience, I beat the game
in 11 Minutes and 55, my best time so far.
=========
APHARMD S
=========
Apharmd S Vs. Bradtos-
When the battle began, I walked to the right to avoid the initial laser
stream, then moved up/right just outside the purple flooring. I turned again,
moving upwards on the purple flooring until I heard the sound of the hurdles
being released. I then started moving up/left but got tagged by a hurdle,
which then slowed me down enough to get struck by the second set of laser
streams. I then Dashed up/left to avoid further damage, passing right under a
different set of laser shots. When I hit the edge of the ring, I Jumped so
that I would turn to face Bradtos, and I turned just in time to see myself get
struck with a couple laser shots. I then moved up/right while still in
the air to avoid the last set of hurdles coming at me. After a few seconds, I
did a quick Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face Bradtos, who was just
now opening up 250m away from me.
I fired a RTRW (4 Heavy Rockets) at the gem, then stepped back a little bit
and tossing a LW shot in an attempt to block some of the spread laser shots.
I then fired off several RW rockets followed by a RTCW (Variable Missiles)
which seemed to do quite a bit of damage. I got struck by the spread laser as
I dropped another LW to block some shots. By that time, Bradtos was about to
close so I fired some more RW rockets at the gem. As Bradtos closed, he had
20% life left while I had 54%.
Before Bradtos shot the second set of hurdles, I moved to the right, then
up/right along the purple part of the floor. When the hurdles looked like
they had passed, I began to walk down/left but got tagged with some CD's. I
continued walking down/left which got me past the hurdles with no problems.
When the second set of CD's came at me, I simply continued moving down/left
and they all missed me. When the final set of hurdles were fired, I saw one
barely miss me to my right, so I Jumped and moved to the right. The next
hurdle that was released was aimed to the left and missed me. When I landed,
I quickly did a Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face Bradtos.
Right as Bradtos opened up, I shot a RTRW (4 Heavy Rockets) and got tagged by
the cluster laser. When the spread laser was fired, I Dashed to the right and
fired some RW rockets that finished off Bradtos.
Even though I was getting a bit low on life, Apharmd S seems to be well armed
to fight Bradtos. I even almost won before Bradtos was able to close for the
first time.
Apharmd S Vs. Tangram-
When the round began, I moved to the right until I was 260m away from
Tangram; I then Jumped so that I would turn to face him. I continued moving
to the right until I heard Tangram fire his rings. After a split second, I
Dashed down which also somehow made me turn to face Tangram. I saw the
second set of rings being released, so I dashed to the right before they got
to me. I Jumped again so that I would face Tangram and then Dashed to the
left to avoid more rings. When I heard Tangram's armor come off, I was still
dashing to the left so I fired some RW rockets in order to get reoriented as
well as take off a little damage.
By now, I was at a distance of 490m and was facing Tangram's empty hole. I
promptly fired a RTCW (Variable Missiles) and followed up with some RW rockets
and a RTLW (Soccer Bomb). When the first cluster shot came out, I Dashed to
the left which also allowed me to avoid the second cluster shot. I then
Jumped to avoid the third cluster laser and released some RW rockets.
When the Megalaser came out, I Dashed to the left and fired some CW missiles.
After the dash ended, I moved back to 320m since the Megalaser was not even
close to hitting me. I fired some RW rockets, followed by a RTLW (Soccer
Bomb) and a RTCW (Variable Missiles). I then shot some RTRW (4 Heavy Rockets)
followed by CW missiles. Tangram's armor reformed, but I released some RTRW
(4 Heavy Rockets) and another RTLW (Soccer Bomb) to chip a little more energy
off. This left Tangram with 36% health.
I moved to the right to avoid the rings coming at me, and then Dashed right to
get a little more breathing room. I continued moving back and right to get
away from Tangram. When I heard the next set of rings fired, I jumped so that
I would face Tangram and simply moved to the left to avoid the rings. At this
point Tangram moved in very close to me and I had trouble telling which way I
was going. The next set of rings were shot and they didn't hit me, so I moved
left and back to get away from Tangram. When I heard Tangram's armor shoot
off, I Jumped so that I would face his vulnerable area. Tangram released a
couple more rings, so I Dashed to the right and fired some RW rockets to keep
Tangram in my sights.
I was now at a distance of 480m, so I fired a RTCW (Variable Missiles) at the
boss and followed up with a RTLW (Soccer Bomb). I then moved a little to the
left before the first cluster laser came out. When the cluster laser got near
me, I Dashed to the left and fired some RW rockets. This also allowed me to
avoid the second cluster laser. When the third cluster came at me I had just
enough time to Dash to the left and fire some more RW rockets. When my Dash
ended, I fired RTCW (Variable Missiles) and Dashed to the left again just
before the Megalaser was about to hit me.
I then (for no reason I can remember) dashed to the right, directly into the
Megalaser. Luckily I had not been struck with anything so far so my health
was at 100% when the Megalaser hit. It took me down to 23% health and left me
motionless for a couple precious seconds. When I could move Apharmd again, I
shot another RTCW (Variable Missiles) followed by some RTRW (4 Heavy Rockets)
to destroy Tangram completely.
Although beating the bosses was pretty easy with Apharmd S, I had quite a bit
of trouble getting past the regular fighters, mainly due to my inexperience
with Apharmd S. I ended up with a not so hot finishing time of 20 minutes and
48 seconds.
=======
ANGELAN
=======
Angelan Vs. Bradtos-
When the round started, I moved to the right to avoid the laser shots,
then moved up/right along the dark purple path on the floor. When I reached
the red eye on the ground, I moved up until I was almost at the next red eye.
I could see the laser shots sneaking up behind me so I then moved up/left
along the purple fence-like path. When I got close to the ring edge ahead of
me, I moved left a little and Jumped. This made me turn to face Bradtos and
also made me fly just over one of his hurdles. The core was just opening as I
landed.
I fired a RTCW (Twin Dragons) followed by a LTRW (Laser) shot. I moved
down/right slightly and let off a some RW shots while Bradtos shot his spread
lasers at me. I was at a distance of 260m, but Angelan is a fairly mobile VR
and I was able to easily move left and right as needed to avoid the spread
shots. I spent a lot of my time dodging and trying to fire some RTCW (Twin
Dragons) but I never seemed to have enough ammo. Bradtos closed up with 75%
health left.
I moved to the left as Bradtos sent his next series of hurdles at me. When I
heard the second set fire, I moved down/left which let me go past some of the
hurdles. I got tagged by one of the hurdles right as Bradtos started his CD
attack, so I moved to the left and then up/left in an attempt to dodge them.
I was 130m away from Bradtos when he sent his next set of hurdles. I tried to
move down/right to avoid them, but got tagged again by one. Right after that,
Bradtos unleashed some more CD's; I moved to the right and they all missed.
When I got to the ring edge, I did a quick Jump and Crouch so that I would
turn to face Bradtos.
I was at a distance of 290m and fired RTCW (Twin Dragons) right before Bradtos
opened up. I followed that with a LTRW (Laser), then moved to the side back
and forth to avoid the spread lasers. While I was dodging the spread lasers,
I let off some RW shots to nick a little more health off. I also just
remembered that she had a LW attack (duh!) so I released one of those as well.
It seemed to take a nice chunk off (about 15%), and I wondered why I didn't
remember to shoot them during Bradtos' first opening. I tried to fire another
RTCW (Twin Dragons) but didn't have enough ammo. Consequently, I got tagged
with some spread lasers as Bradtos was closing up for the second time.
For his next series of attacks, Bradtos moved right at me while he released
some hurdles. I moved to the left, then to the right to try to throw his aim</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
off a little bit. As I continued moving right, I got tagged by his laser
shots. While I was getting struck, I changed direction and began moving up.
When he released his next set of hurdles, I moved up/left and then down/left.
Bradtos stopped firing at this point, so I did a quick Jump and Crouch so that
I would turn to face him.
Unfortunately, I was at point blank range (65m) and Bradtos was opening up. I
tossed a LW pillar as I moved down/right, getting hit with some of the cluster
laser shots in the process. As I continued moving down/right, I released some
RW shots. It looked like some of the cluster and spread laser shots were
hitting me, but I was still flashing from the first cluster shot so maybe I
was invulnerable for a second. The RW shots were just enough; I defeated
Bradtos with 3% life left.
Angelan doesn't have many major big damage weapons, but she moves fairly
quickly and can dodge almost anything Bradtos tosses at her. I should have
payed more attention to my Ammo gauges, however.
Angelan Vs. Tangram-
When the round began, I released the RTCW (Twin Dragons) just to see how
much damage they might do to Tangram (1.6%). I then moved off to the right to
get away from the boss. When I heard the first set of rings fire, I Dashed
down and saw them go past me. I then moved right some more until I heard the
second rings fire. I Dashed down to avoid them and also let off some RW shots
so that I would turn to face Tangram. I then moved right again until I heard
the next set of rings fire. To avoid these, I Dashed to the left and fired RW
shots again so that I would turn to face Tangram. Right as I was firing,
Tangram ejected his armor and shot a couple more rings which didn't even seem
to be pointed at me.
I then Jumped so that I would face Tangram's open spot and released a CW
dragon followed by a LW pillar and some RW shots. I moved to the left and
up/left as I was firing my RW so that I would simultaneously avoid the cluster
lasers and get closer. I released another LW as I was moving to the left,
along with some more RW shots as the third cluster passed by me.
I was 300M away, but I didn't stop moving to the right. When the Megalaser
fired, I continued my pattern of letting of LW and RW shots. I also released
another CW dragon. As the Megalaser ended, I moved up/right while firing RW
shots. When I was 130m away, I shot another CW dragon right as Tangram was
closing up. I moved back a little bit and shot off another CW dragon.
Tangram now had 54% health, so I was worried that I would lose.
As Tangram resumed his tentacle attacks, I moved down/right. When I heard the
first set of rings fire, I Dashed downwards. I then Dashed to the left when
the next set of rings fired, but I ended up very close to Tangram. To get
away, I moved down for a while until I saw the third set of rings coming at
me, at which point I Dashed down/left to dodge them. About this time, Tangram
ejected his armor and fired some more rings which didn't even come close to
hitting me.
I then Jumped so that I would face Tangram and fired a LW pillar followed by a
RTCW (Twin Dragons) shot at a distance of 430m. Next, I moved to the left
while firing RW shots, anticipating the cluster lasers. The first one passed
me by, and I Jumped to avoid the second one. When the third shot came at me,
I must have been in the perfect location because I was almost right in the
middle of the cluster and all the shots went right around me.
I was stunned for a little bit that I wasn't hurt, but I still got off a CW
dragon before the Megalaser started up. I moved to the left after firing it,
and continued to pump out RW shots. Then I did a VERY STUPID THING: I Jumped.
I thought I was far enough from the Megalaser to avoid getting struck, but I
was dead wrong. The Megalaser quickly zoomed right in to my location and I
got hit. Luckily, I had dodge all of Tangram's previous attacks so I was able
to survive this one with 23% life left. This stupidity also cost me some
precious seconds. Right after Angelan stopped tumbling, I fired a LW pillar,
followed by some more RW shots that were just enough to finish off Tangram.
It's the same as story with Bradtos: Angelan has the mobility to avoid
Tangram's attacks as long as you don't do anything foolish (like I did). The
only problem you face is in causing enough damage quickly. I think I would
have had a faster win if I had used some RTLW (Big Pillars) instead of plain
LW pillars. My final time was an OK 15 minutes and 16 seconds.
=======
DORDRAY
=======
Dordray Vs. Bradtos-
Well, the first time I beat the game with Dordray I had a bit of trouble
defeating Bradtos. I focused too much on using his RTRW (Flamethrower) and
RTCW (Super V. Hurricane) which leaves Dordray very vulnerable to the spread
lasers. My winning round resulted in both me and Bradtos blowing up, yet I
went on to the next mission. Because of this, I decided to try again to
defeat Bradtos with a method that would keep me from dying.
When the round began, I immediately moved to the down/right and then
right to avoid the laser shots. When I got to the dark purple band on the
ground, I moved up/right until I heard the hurdles being released. I did a
quick Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face Bradtos and hopefully have
a better chance at avoiding the hurdles. While this caused me to get hit by a
laser shot, I was able to move to the right past both hurdles. When the next
set of laser streams started up, I moved up/right following the purple fence
on the ground. I saw the laser shots behind me catching up, so I then moved
up. When I saw the laser shots disappear, I moved up/left for a little bit
followed by a Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face Bradtos. The rest
of the hurdles weren't even aimed in my general direction, so I had plenty of
time to plan my attack as Bradtos opened up.
I began by doing a forward Dash LW (Drill Rush). I timed it early enough so
that I was able to turn around before the laser streams began. I was 260m
away when the first spread came at me, so I moved left and right to dodge
while constantly releasing RW shots. By the time the last spread came out, my
RW ammo gauge was emptied and my LW ammo gauge had refilled. I immediately
tried a forward Dash LW (Drill Rush) as Bradtos closed but I was a little too
late to cause damage. Bradtos now had 11% health left to my 88%.
As a result of the Drill Rush, I ended up at the ring edge with my back turned
to Bradtos. I did a Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face him, but I
still got hit by a hurdle and several CD shots. I then moved down/right to
avoid the next set of hurdles and just barely missed one set when Bradtos
started shooting some more CD's. To evade those, I moved right and then
up/right along the dark purple flooring. When I heard the last set of hurdles
being released, I did a Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face the boss.
Unfortunately I was struck by the last hurdle as I jumped.
When Bradtos opened up for the last time, I quickly did a forward Dash LW
(Drill Rush) to finish him off. I still had over 50% health left, so I
considered this a great success.
Despite my initial problems with Bradtos, my second attempt went quite
smoothly. Dordray's RW shots seem to do a great job of decimating Bradtos'
health, and when you add in a couple of Drill Rushes, you could possibly kill
Bradtos just during his first opening.
Dordray Vs. Tangram-
I began the round by firing a LW drill just to see what kind of damage
it would do (0.3%). I moved to the right and then Dashed to the right so that
I would get farther away from Tangram. When I heard the rings fired, I Dashed
down and saw them fly past me. When the next set of rings fired, I Jumped so
that I would turn to face Tangram, and the rings passed under me. To avoid
the next set, I Dashed to the right, and then Jumped again. At this point,
Tangram was quite close (180m). I got hit by a few rings as I Dashed
down/left. When I heard the sound of Tangram's armor break, I immediately did
a Jump RTCW (Super V. Hurricane) which did very little damage because
Tangram's vulnerable spot was turned away from me. The last few rings hit me
as my attack ended.
I was at a distance of 450m when I fired a couple RW fireballs followed by a
RTRW (Big Fireball). Anticipating the spread lasers, I moved left and fired a
LW drill followed by some more LW shots. When the third cluster laser passed
by, I immediately stopped and fired a RTCW (Super V. Hurricane). After this
attack, I moved to the left, getting ready for the Megalaser.
While Tangram released his Megalaser, I continued to move to the left while
firing RW shots. When Tangram stopped firing, I released a RTCW (Super V.
Hurricane) followed by several RW shots until his armor reformed. I then
released a LW drill just for good measure. At this point, Tangram had 33%
health left.
Tangram fired a new set of rings, and I responded by moving down/right and
releasing some RW shots. I Jumped right before the second set of rings were
shot, then moved to the right to avoid them. I then changed direction and
moved down/left to avoid the third set of rings, two of which struck me.
Next, I moved down/right and then Dashed to the right when the next set of
rings were fired. After these passed by, I Jumped so that I would turn to
face Tangram and saw him release a couple rings as his armor exploded.
Despite
my attempts to move left and right to avoid the rings, they hit me.
At a distance of 480m, Tangram turned to face me and I used several RW shots.
When I saw his eye flash blue, I moved to the left to avoid the cluster
lasers. By the time the third set of cluster lasers were being shot, Tangram
was off my screen. I decided to Dash up/left and fire a RW shot so that I
would turn to face him.
Right before the Megalaser fired I got off a couple RW shots. When the
Megalaser did fire, I moved up/left while still holding in the RW button.
When I had gone way past Tangram, I dashed up and fired a LW drill so that I
would turn to face him. I saw the Megalaser ending, so I fired a RTCW (Super
V. Hurricane) followed by four more RW shots to finish him off.
For all the trouble I had with destroying Bradtos, fighting Tangram seemed to
be a much easier battle. I think I should have not used the RTCW (Super V.
Hurricane) and instead use that ammo for a forward Dash CW (CD Rush), but in
the end it all worked out. My final time was 12 minutes and 33 seconds.
========
GRYS-VOK
========
Grys-Vok Vs. Bradtos-
As the round started, I moved to the right to avoid the laser shots.
When I got to the outside edge of the purple gate-like floor, I moved
up/right. When I got to the corner with the red Tangram eye on the floor, I
did a very quick Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to face Bradtos. I got
tagged with a couple of laser shots while I shot a Crouch RTCW (Mini Nuke). I
then moved to the right to avoid the hurdles coming at me. When two hurdles
had passed by, I did another quick Jump and Crouch so that I would turn to
face Bradtos. This allowed some of the laser shots to catch up to me. At
this moment, I was facing Bradtos' corner, and apparently the guns that shoot
the laser shots can't quite turn far enough to hit someone who is in line with
the corner. Meanwhile, I see all these laser shots zipping right beside me
and I get a little nervous because I wasn't sure wether or not the guns would
be able to turn enough. I decided to move to the right while the laser shots
were still coming, and I got struck by a few of them. Luckily, I was able to
avoid the hurdles by moving to the right.
Bradtos kept moving around after the hurdles, so I waited patiently. At a
distance of 290m, I fired a RTCW (6 Shot) right before Bradtos opened. I then
moved to the left a little so that my target was directly in front of me and
used my RTRW (4 Big Missiles). At this time, Bradtos began his spread laser
attack. I moved a little to the right and fired some regular RW rockets and
some LW napalm in an attempt to block some of the lasers. I followed that
with a RTCW (6 Shot) in which I got pegged by a couple spread lasers and was
only able to release 2 shots. Bradtos seemed to close pretty quickly after
that, and I shot a couple RW rockets to nick off a little more health. When
Bradtos closed he had 10% life left, but I had only 18% left. It looked like
I would need to do some serious dodging.
Bradtos began his hurdle salvo, and I moved to the right to dodge them. I
released a LW napalm shot in an attempt to dissipate some of them, but it
didn't seem to make any difference. I did a quick Jump and Crouch so that I
would turn to face the boss, and I was treated to the sight of his CD's coming
straight for me. I immediately moved right and up/right to avoid them, which
worked pretty good. I continued moving up/right while Bradtos released his
hurdles, and I was able to avoid those as well. I heard the CD's firing, so I
continued to move up/right for a second and then moved up to throw them off.
Bradtos the released his hurdles; I did a Jump and Crouch so that I would be
facing Bradtos and hopefully be able to dodge them. However, I still took a
couple hits from them because Bradtos was quite close to me (150m). I was
left with 3% health and a boss that was breathing down my neck.
Bradtos was directly in front of me at a distance of 100m. I anticipated his
opening by releasing a RTCW (6 Shot) which killed Bradtos before he even had a
chance to attack. A very close finish, but good enough for me.
Although I almost died, Grys-Vok has a powerful arsenal at his disposal and I
think he could also easily destroy Bradtos with one opening. The only reason
my life was so low was that I was too eager to fire his RTCW (6 Shot).
Grys-Vok Vs. Tangram-
I began the round by moving to the right, trying to distance myself from
Tangram. When I heard the first set of rings fire, I waited a little bit and
then Dashed down. I must have waited too long because one of the rings tagged
me. Next, I Jumped so that I would face Tangram, and I saw him fire the next
set of rings. I moved to the right a little bit and then Jumped to dodge
them. When more rings came at me, I moved to the right and then Dashed
down/right at the last second. Another ring caught up to me because of this.
I continued to move down until I heard Tangram release his armor, at which
time I Jumped so that I would turn to face him and avoid the rings.
Tangram rotated towards me, and at a distance of 470m I fired a CW shot
followed by some RW rockets, both of which were the result of me not hitting
the RT button correctly. I decided to continue firing RW rockets until
Tangram shot his cluster lasers. I moved to the left to avoid the first two
and then Jumped to avoid the third. While Jumping, I released some CW shots.
Tangram then shot his Megalaser, and I moved to the left while firing RW
rockets to dodge it, adding in some CW shots and LW napalm. When I saw the
Megalaser end, I jumped so that I would face Tangram and then fired another CW
shot. I followed that with a RTCW (6 Shot), which I should note seems to be
altered for your fight with Tangram. If you have full ammo in your CW gauge
and you perform a RTCW, you will fire a TON of missiles at Tangram that will
tear him apart. Unfortunately, I had only enough ammo for a regular RTCW (6
Shot). I followed that up with some RW rockets until Tangram reformed his
armor. Even though he was no longer vulnerable, I still shot off a RTCW
(Multi-Shot) followed by more RW rockets for a little more damage. Not as if
I needed it, as Tangram was left with 28% life.
When Tangram started his next series of attacks, I moved to the right.
However, Tangram flew right at me and I was struck with something, probably a
purple orb. I then Dashed right to get away, but some of Tangram's rings hit
me. When I heard the next set fire, I Dashed down but still collided with
some more. As a result of the Dash, I turned to face Tangram. Next, I moved
to the right and Jumped to avoid the next set of rings. When I heard Tangram
release his armor, I dashed to the left and released some LW shots so that I
would turn to face him.
When I had Tangram in my sights, I immediately fired a RTCW (Multi-Shot)
followed by some RTRW (4 Big Missiles) to finish off Tangram. No sweat.
I'm not quite sure why the programmers decided to alter Bradtos' RTCW to make
it even more powerful in your fight with Tangram, but I'm not complaining.
With Grys-Vok I got my best finishing time ever, 10 minutes and 46 seconds.
====
YES!
====
Hopefully you have now been able to truly finish the game with all 11 VR's and
now have access to M.S.B.S. v.5.2 (the earliest Arcade release of VOOT?).
There are subtle changes in the VR's, such as different ammo requirements for
some attacks or different weapon properties. For example, Angelan's LTCW (Ice
Mirror) lasts MUCH longer and becomes a real powerful tool in deflecting enemy
attacks. Another obvious change is the Public Port stage where the floor
becomes see-through just like the walls, making for a nicely disorienting
battle.
================
5. Fighting Ajim
================
You may have noticed in the back pages of the manual an entry for a
mysterious VR known as Ajim. Ajim is a special boss that you will fight as a
punishment for fighting cowardly. If you do manage to beat him, you can then
play as him against the CPU and your friends, although you have to mess with
the Dreamcast's date settings.
The first thing you need to do is be prepared to lose. Ajim, has some
extremely powerful attacks and, as a boss, very strong armor. You need to
fight him using a VR that can dodge well and cause a lot of damage. After
several crushing defeats and experimentation, I think Temjin is probably your
best bet.
In order to face Ajim, you'll need to fight in Arcade mode and get as many
time-out wins as possible. Hit your enemy with a couple of shots early in the
match and spend the remainder of your time Dashing away. If you are
successful, you should face Ajim before the battle with Bradtos. In fact, if
you make it to Bradtos and you haven't seen Ajim, you should quit the game and
try again.
When your battle against Ajim begins, he will fall from the sky and crush the
enemy VR. This is your golden opportunity to hit Ajim with your biggest
attack since he will stand there for a bit doing nothing. Don't fire too
early, though, as Ajim has a short period of invincibility when he falls down
from the sky (until 85 seconds on the 90-second timer). When Ajim wakes up,
he'll begin his assault.
Some important attacks to watch out for:
Occasionally, Ajim will dash in a certain direction and release colored balls.
You may also hear a weird sound effect that means he is powering up. These
attacks cause him to either increase his speed permanently or increase his
weapon damage temporarily. The colored ball attacks can be a nuisance as the
green ones can disable your weapons just like some of Specineff's attacks. If
you are lucky, you may see him shoot out a dark greyish-purple ball. If this
hits you, you will regain ALL of your health. Otherwise, stay clear of the
colored balls.
Ajim will sometimes fire a rocket of some kind with an orange trail or a
planet (atom?) shaped projectile, both of which will cause some serious
damage. They are also quite fast, so they can be hard to dodge. Luckily,
these attacks require a nice chunk of his ammo gauge, so they can't be fired
too often.
One of Ajim's most dangerous attacks is his Self-Nuke (Rotate to the right,
CW). This has good range (about 270m) and will cause at least 50% damage to
both VR's. You can tell Ajim will be performing this because he will spin
around, send out little dust clouds along the ground, followed by blue waves
of energy. If you see any of this, then immediately dash back as far as you
can. If you manage to avoid the blast, you can get a free shot at Ajim as he
reassembles. Ajim doesn't use this very much, but you should be aware of it
anyway.
The following is a description of my Temjin Vs. Ajim fight:
My match was supposed to be Temjin Vs. Fei-Yen KN in the Underwater
Plant stage, but it was rudely interrupted by the appearance of Ajim. I moved
forward until I reached a distance of 70m, then waited until Ajim landed. I
then used Temjin's Spinning Sword (Press the CW button while rotating in Close
Combat range). I spun towards Ajim, but the sword passed right through him
until the timer showed 85 seconds remaining. I was lucky since at this point
Temjin had moved beyond Ajim and was just barely able to tag Ajim in his back
with the Spinning Sword attack.
After Temjin recovered from the Spinning Sword attack, I did a quick Jump and
Crouch so that I would turn to face Ajim. He was right in front of me, so I
fired a RTRW (Beam Laser). Unfortunately, Ajim had just fired his CW planet
which hit me and dropped my health down to 40%. Ajim then did some type of
air dash and released a couple of balls. He landed close to my left, so a
moved towards him in an attempt to dodge the balls and counterattack. I could
see the balls getting quite close so I Jumped, Dashed to the right and landed.
Meanwhile Ajim was also Dashing past me to the right. I Jumped and Dashed to
the right again while firing my RW, but Ajim was almost directly underneath me
and I was unable to hit him. I landed almost right in front of him and he was
also landing, so I attempted a Close Combat CW slash which Ajim easily evaded
it by jumping away and releasing some shots.
I performed another Jump side Dash RW but that also completely missed Ajim.
He fired a blue orb at me which I tried to dodge by moving to the right, but
the orb was just too quick and it knocked me down. When I got up, I decided
it was time to fight high damage homing attacks with high damage homing
attacks. I quickly Jumped, Dashed forward, and press CW to do Temjin's
Gliding Ram
attack. Even though Ajim was releasing some shots during my attack, I plowed
right through them and decimated a good sized chunk off his health.
One downside to the Gliding Ram is that it uses up all of your ammo. I
decided it was time to run away until my ammo recharged. I Jumped and Dashed
back, releasing some RW shots. When I landed, I moved past an obstacle which
blocked me from Ajim's square shots. Next, I Dashed forward and shot my RW
which floored Ajim. I tried to follow up with a Close Combat RW ground hit,
but Ajim got back up immediately.
I Jumped quickly and Dashed back firing my RW in an attempt to get away. Ajim
actually got hit by some of these shots and fell to the ground again. That
gave me time for my RW ammo to recharge. I waited behind an obstacle until
Ajim got back up. He immediately dashed and released some colored balls, and
I
answered that attack with another Jump forward Dash CW (Gliding Ram) which
knocked Ajim to the ground and left him with 1% life.
I froze at this moment, not sure if I should hit Ajim while he was down
because he had risen so quickly last time. I Dashed back and shot used my RW
as Ajim got up and did his own dash attack. A few of his square shots hit me
while I was recovering from the dash attack. I didn't yet have enough ammo
for another Gliding Ram, so I Jumped and Dashed to the left while shooting my
RW. Ajim was standing there releasing a orange rocket which allowed my Dash
shots to finish him off.
After you beat Ajim, play on until you either win the game or lose. You
do not have to beat Tangram or win without continuing or anything special; all
you had to do was defeat Ajim. After the Game Over screen disappears, you
should get a message saying that the game is auto-saving to your VMU.
Congratulations, you've unlocked Ajim!
But wait, there's more! You have to alter the date on the Dreamcast clock in
order to play as Ajim. To do this, open the lid on the Dreamcast and go into
the Settings screen. Then go to the Date/Time and change the date to
11/15/2000. Next, go down to "Other" and choose "Adjust the memory card(s)
clock." To select Ajim, you must go to the Random Select spot on the
selection screen. Now press and hold in the LT (X) button while you press and
hold in the RT (B) button. Ajim's portrait should now replace the Random
Select box, and you can press A or Start to choose him.
==============
6. Other Stuff
==============
In the future, I plan to also describe strategies on how to win without
continuing. Certain match-ups (Temjin vs. Dordray) can be very difficult to
win without a game plan and I had to continue many times. This might take
while, so please be patient.
Thanks go out to Danny Chi (DLC) for his excellent and extensive FAQ for VOOT.
It is a must read for people learning to play this game.
Thanks also to Gokou00 on the Gamefaqs message board for posting how to play
as Ajim.
Good sites to check out:
www.gamefaqs.com - Has guides for a few of the VR's, plus is just a great
resource in general for any game.
www.virtualon.cjb.net - This has quite a bit of information, and a good Cypher
guide that is not available at Gamefaqs.
www.game-411.com/voot/ - A great looking site that does a good job of
explaining the fundamentals of VOOT.
www.sydvoc.com - The best thing about this is their Virtual On Search,
although some very helpful sites may no longer exist...
==========================================
Big thanks to Activision for porting VOOT!
==========================================
END
