Time Crisis III Player 1 Walkthrough/General FAQ v0.3f
PureDragon

What's new in this version (0.3f - 2004/01/28) -

- layout re-adjustment (this should read slightly more easier... I hope), some
random deleting and word choice revision
- this is a document for ONLY the arcade version of Time Crisis III, first
player side (though again, this can help for player two). I do not have TCIII
for PS2, nor do I have the means or motivation at the moment to drop the cash
for it and guns. Any and all e-mails regarding TCIII for PS2 will be promptly
deleted, and/or depending on my mood, you may be used as flame bait. You have
been warned.

- Unless something huge happens (like I suddenly develop interest in the game
again or move anywhere near a machine, or there's a major mistake that's
brought to my attention), this document will no longer be updated. Yeah,
there's a bunch of gaps, and maybe it's not 100% detailed or accurate. But I
think it's served its purpose, so I don't feel the need to worry about this any
more.

Comments, questions (that are not already answered in here and pertain to this
FAQ!) - [email protected]. Otherwise, there are message boards at
GameFAQs.com. Use them - the community can help you a lot better than I.

If I get enough boss questions, I may write a boss FAQ to separately identify
things. But the walkthrough should be enough... I think.

NOTE: If you're not all that familiar with the game and what goes on, I
recommend you play the game first. I'm going to assume you're somewhat familiar
with the fundamentals of the game (how to dodge, change weapons, etc).

Sections:

I. Preface
II. Your enemies - a bestiary of sorts.
III. Your weapons - self-explanatory.
IV. The walkthrough - I try to be as detailed as I can, but due to imperfect
memory and only occasional access to "research", is not completely reliable.
Should ruin virtually all of the surprises the game throws at you
gameplay-wise, though.
V. Afterword - self-explanatory.
VI. Credits - self-explanatory.
VII. Version History - self-explanatory.

I. Preface

Why a Time Crisis III FAQ? Because I can. :p That, and because GameFAQs.com (as
of 5/1/03) has a lack of information and some misinformation, which I somehow
feel like I'm qualified to clear up.

This document, I doubt, will ever be truly complete. I've picked up a lot about
the combo/point system, enemy stuff, and so on and so forth from simple
observation of the game, but I'm sure I'll find myself more often wrong than
not. If you can show me the light regarding things I mess up, I'll be more than
happy to credit you and revise this document accordingly.

For abbreviation purposes: S3A2-6 refers to Stage 3, Area 2, 6th encounter, or
after 5th "Wait" signal. But if you want to just skip to a particular area,
find using S3-A2 format instead. Why'd I do that? Who knows... I'll probably
correct that later on. :p

GRIPE: Why is it *better* for you if the gun doesn't recoil? Even machinegun
actually fires faster than it normally does... and now that my arcade fixed the
guns, I feel so... slow.

This document is copyright 2002-2004 PureDragon.
Current entities with permission to publicly host/distribute the document are
GameFAQs.com. If you would like to host it, contact me at the e-mail address
above. Otherwise, reproduction and distribution of this document is prohibited
for any usage other than personal, and is expressly prohibited in conjunction
with any manner of sale or other profit-oriented activity.

If this opening looks familiar to you, maybe you've also seen my Magical Drop
III Combo FAQ.

With that out of the way, let us begin.

II. Your enemies

Let it never be said that I didn't love anything with a point-and-click
interface. :p After having run through Time Crisis II so many times that people
suggested I should try to play both players at once for the sheer challenge of
it, thankfully Time Crisis III came along. For fans of TCII, the initial
differences may be a little strange, but it never really strays from the
formula.

Basic premise - you shoot people/things with gun(s). You duck down to reload
and dodge Very Evil Objects that take away life icons. Very Evil Objects
include any bullet that's red, anything that's fired with a red flash, almost
any non-bullet projectile, claws, and swords. Most Very Evil Objects *cannot*
be shot down once they're on the screen - a pissing reminder to newbies who
tend to shoot at red bullets instead of dodging them.

Normal soldiers only need one shot anywhere to take them down. Vehicle and boss
life is dependent on whether you're playing by yourself or with a partner (note
that life in a single-player cooperative is the same as a single-player game) -
as one can guess, it'll go up with two players.

What do you shoot? Two categories - soldiers and vehicles.

Of the soldier category, you have -

The green fatigues soldier. Formerly the blue pistol soldier of TCII, he's
generally to be considered cannon fodder. Armed with only a pistol, they
generally suck, but note that they can still shoot red at you occasionally -
very, very occasionally - which is what catches you off-guard. Even if they're
right in your face, they generally won't do anything else other than boost your
score (to be explained later on).

The yellow and white-suit soldier. Yellow soldiers may assume the traits of any
pistol-wielding foot soldier - 99% of the time, they act as a green. What's
important (as explained in the game introduction) is that you get all of your
special weapon ammo from them. Most of the time, you *will* get machinegun
ammo, and you *cannot* directly control what sort of ammo you get from each
yellow soldier (there is one instance where you can indirectly change it, but
not sure you'd want to). If I remember what kind of ammo certain ones give,
I'll post it in the walkthrough, but basically - unless you're good enough to
share ammo with a partner, you want to hit him three times and move on.

Yellow soldier given ammo can be: machinegun (in chunks of either 10, 20, 30 or
40), shotgun (1-4 shells), or grenade (1). Given this discrepancy, becoming
very friendly with your machinegun is advisable. Kind of a nod to Crisis Zone
fans.

The red-suited soldier. His firearm is the same as the green, except apparently
his clip is generally limited to one to three shots (except later on). Same as
the red soldier from TCII, the distinction they have from green soldiers is
twofold - first, their first shot will *always* hit you, and two - the
remainder of their shots have a much better percentage (if not set pattern) of
hitting you as well. Consequently, they make for headaches. If I remember the
firing pattern for a particular red soldier, I'll post it in the walkthrough.
Red soldiers also have this particularly annoying tendency to appear either
RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU or all the way off in the distance, and take a quick life
off if you're not ready for it.

The dark blue soldier. Blue soldiers come equipped with one of four weapons -
hand grenades, hand axes, rocket launcher, or flame thrower. In the case of
hand grenades and hand axe soldiers, you will *not* have a warning red flash.
Instead, you will be required to pay attention to whatever VEO they throw at
you and either dodge it or shoot it - one hit will stop the incoming attack of
either. If you somehow miss a grenade, it is an automatic hit. If you miss a
hand axe, on the other hand, it's only a 99% chance it's a hit. (Great odds.)
Either way, they cannot target both players at the same time - but they tend to
appear in pairs to compensate for that, or switch between players. Hand axes
can be heard, so don't tune out your ears. Grenades also, but their only sounds
are when they're thrown, and when they explode in your face.

A blue soldier with a rocket launcher can be treated more or less like an
easier red soldier. His rockets *will* flash red if they will hit you. On the
other hand, like a regular soldier, you *cannot* shoot down their rockets, no
matter what you may think or have been told.

A flame thrower soldier is a different story. They take four pistol shots to
bring down, as well as spread a small wave of flame back and forth. It's
*really* hard to predict when it's safe to get up between passes, since the hit
detection seems to be really shady - I've lost one too many games to playing
chicken with flamethrower soldiers, so I either take them out before or after
they spray. Naturally, you're safe when the flame is completely not pointed at
you and not in motion. However, I've been hit at times where the flamethrower
guy was pointing *almost* completely away from me - it may just be treated as a
large chunk of flying object? In any event, flamethrower speeds and angles of
movement vary considerably. The fastest one is probably Wild Dog himself.

A tan/orange jacketed soldier with a pretty neat-looking piece of head gear.
Holding a machine gun, he's more like a holdover from Crisis Zone. They take a
good 5-6 shots from a standard pistol to bring down, as opposed to one. Their
clips tend to be rather limited by real-life machine gun standards, but expect
20-30 rounds at a time. His accuracy can be dangerous - late in the game,
anticipate up to 5-7 red bullets out of every clip if the computer wants to
pressure you.

A light-blue/white ninja. They can come at you in a million and a half
different ways, but the only way they can score a hit on you is if they get up
to you. Ninja require about four pistol shots, on average, to take down. Ninja
hits are strange - apparently their claws don't even need to touch you
sometimes, but most of the time, it's a pretty obvious claw swipe that's their
attack. They, like the red soldiers, love popping out of random places and
scoring unexpected hits.

Of the vehicle category, you have:

Jeeps. Easily the most common target vehicle in the game, they serve two
purposes: in Stage 1, Area 3 (or S1A3), machinegunners drive them (except for
one) and let other soldiers try to land hits on you. If the Jeep stays on
screen long enough, it will bump you, and the driver may start shooting you as
well. Everywhere else, they're your shortcut for skipping past a particular
section. Jeeps, at full life, can take a full clip from the pistol and one more
(plus or minus) before they go boom. More importantly, if a Jeep is moving and
the driver is eliminated, the Jeep will detonate anyway. Jeeps themselves do
not attack, so pay more attention to its occupants.

Submarines. Only at the end of Stage 2, Area 2. (S2A2) Subs have two main
attack methods: they have a completely rotateable mounted machinegun that fires
pretty darn fast. Depending on how annoying the game feels like being, you can
easily see a stream of 5-7 red bullets in a burst of 30+. Their second attack
is a small rocket aimed at either player (one player can be on the receiving
end of both the gun and the rocket at the same
time). The rocket does *not* have a red flare when it is launched - combined
with the mist and tide, it can be very hard to spot. It also cannot be shot
down. If you're by yourself, one grenade or about six shotgun blasts at close
range should take it down. With a partner, it jumps to about one grenade and
maybe a full pistol clip.

Tanks. These tanks are actually utilized maximally, unlike other tanks in
shooting games, so do be careful. There are two types: the rocket tank, which
appears early on in S3A1, and the Tesla tank, which appears near the end of
S3A3. The rocket tanks both have mounted rapid-fire rocket launchers on its
sides, as well as a main cannon (pretty high caliber)that can rotate in all
three dimensions, and a constantly-reviving gunner in the form of a
machinegunner on top. Player 2 usually is unfairly isolated and hit hard at the
first tank, but more on that later. FYI, unless you have exceptional reflexes,
good luck avoiding the main cannon's shot.

Tesla tanks only have an electric weapon that charges and extends an arc of
lightning over to a player. It's pretty slow, but can actually be hard to tell
which player it's heading to when two Tesla tanks fire at once. Either tank
takes up two grenades, or a whole lot of special ammo, no matter if you're
playing solo or co-op (not that life is equal in both circumstances, though...)

The rest exist as purely boss-type things and only show once, so I stick their
description in the boss fights.

III. Your weapons

Pistol. The standard gun - is as accurate as your hand, is the only gun with a
clip that needs changing (with a max of 9 rounds), has unlimited ammo, and
otherwise is the weakest weapon in the game. This is usually the bread and
butter of my game, but due to the massive amounts of machinegun ammo out there,
you can virtually play the entire game without ever having to use it.

Machinegun. Who knows what kind of machinegun it is, but it's a pretty nice one
- maybe more like an automatic pistol? It shoots larger caliber bullets than
the pistol, and in tests, it does more damage per bullet than pistol. As
advertised, its firing speed is its strong point. Your ammo max is 200 rounds -
but that sometimes feels like it's unlimited, given you have the opportunity to
pick up a ton of ammo. It is reasonably accurate - as accurate as expectable
for a carryable machinegun - but note that the bullets do spread over a very
small box area.

Note that while pistol ammo looks kinda dull, machinegun ammo is clearly AP.
Whether you want AP to mean anti-personnel or armor-piercing is up to you. :p
(I would lean it towards armor-piercing to justify it being able to damage
armored vehicles, but *shrug*)

Shotgun. Kinda like a real shotgun, each shell is more effective if the enemy
is closer. Not like a real shotgun, in that you can almost fire it as fast as
the pistol. Any shotgun shot can do up to six shots and who-knows-how-much
damage. In my arsenal, relegated to machine-killer and fast damage. Switching
between shotgun and machinegun is all a matter of personal taste in the end,
though I would make the case that there's a maximally efficient way to use them
in every single situation. Your ammo limit here is 50, and it isn't nearly as
frequently come across as the machinegun. If you think of the shotgun blast
area as a box, there are six random circular hit areas drawn over that area
that count as a hit each.

Grenade launcher. Portable, powerful, boom. Does really good damage over an
area - usually enough to empty out a particular group or seriously take down a
vehicle/boss. It doesn't eliminate entire sections, per se, but as you play,
you'll get a feel for how the computer breaks down sections even further into
waves. One grenade will eliminate a wave - and in some sections, there is only
one wave. As your ammo cap is five, it's naturally in your best interests to
use them wisely. That having been said, there's some optional places to use
them for effect and/or points. ;p

IV. To a higher score

So you wanna plaster your name across the high score lists. (I do too. :p)
Here's what I can reasonably tell you so far.

TCIII, as one might expect, is a game about time. The faster you finish each
section, the faster you finish each area. The faster you finish each area, the
more bonus points you get. But is it worth it, balanced out against shooting up
everything in sight?

My conclusion: there is no solid answer. Optimal in-game/time score ratios are
something I just don't have the brainpower to figure out at the moment. What I
can tell you is this: the faster you kill off things, the less the game tends
to send at you. See S2A2-08. I'm
leaning towards concerning yourself less with time and more with killing people
to boost that, but again, nothing definitive.

Anyway, the in-battle score system. Normal soldiers have *several* hit areas on
their respective bodies, worth varying points. I'm convinced of at least four,
possibly five, worth 100, (140?), 200, 400, and 800 points, respectively. I'm
assuming you're not playing
a minimum-score game (which is something altogether in itself :p), so... the
only 800-point zone I can reliably find is the head. 400 points tends to be the
chest cavity (eg. lungs and heart). As you get less and less lethal, the point
values decrease until you only get 100 for the shooting the gun out of
someone's hand or taking out his toes.

As I mentioned above, you can shoot a regular soldier three times. (You can
also follow up on multiple-hit regular enemies with two more shots after their
lifebar runs out). You're still given points for doing that as well. The
consecutive shots landed are a fraction of
the first shot's points, no matter where the remaining shots land. Three shots
off a normal shot are either 560 or 640 points. Three shots off a headshot is
1280. Something to keep in mind if you're seriously pushing for a high-score
entry - pistol may be a preferable weapon to machinegun for the simple fact
that your pistol accuracy is not automatically penalized ever-so-slightly.

Occasionally, some soldiers will be considered as hard-to-hit, and will award
800 points no matter where they are hit. Naturally, these guys tend to be
pretty obscured to you. Paratroopers (the guys floating in at the beginning)
fall under the hard-to-hit category.

For hits on things with a lifebar, I'm led to believe that it's 100 points per
hit. A special exception occurs with the cannon in S1-A1 before you get to it -
that seems to
be 50 points.

Green bonuses, under your score, do not necessarily work like they used to in
TCII. Now, instead of rewarding high combos, they only pop up to reward high
*consecutive* combos, as well as trick shots. The best way to test this out, as
far as I know, is at the very beginning of S1-A3, taking on the machinegun and
two rocket launchers. The green bonus is awarded in increasing amounts of 500
for what I believe is every 25 consecutive shots landed. (eg. 500 points at 25,
another 1000 at 50, another 1500 at 75, etc.) I believe, but am not sure - need
more research on this. Green trick shots are tough to tell, and very strange -
I got a +500 for placing a bullet on the eyepiece of a machinegunner's mask for
my first shot, so I really can't help there.

I'm not sure of what kind of math goes into if you keep a combo going, but
there appears some kind of multiplier on your score as your combo count goes
up. One real-life example: at the paratroopers in A1S1, three hits registered
1280. However, six pistol shots later, the combo was at nine hits, 12800.
Drastic example, as it usually doesn't work like that, but that's the source of
my intuition.

There will occasionally be a cap on your combo score in certain situations.
I've had combos be at 30 hits - 25500 and "jump" to 46 hits - 25500. Since the
combo meter is the only thing outside of green points to actually raise your
score, it might be worthwhile to begin investigating what situations can cause
your score to be capped off and then start a new combo instead. Personally, I
found these caps rather infrequent, and 25500 is *not* a set ceiling - I've
pulled off at least 28000 in normal gunfighting. Again, the best place to check
for the existence of the cap is S1A3-01.

Your combo ends in one of three ways - you fail to shoot something for a little
over a second, you switch to another section, or you get hit. Note that missing
consistently doesn't end your combo, as long as you manage to hit *something*.

Like Crisis Zone, there are objects scattered around that appear to serve no
purpose other than to decorate and be shot at. S2A1's street vendor sections (a
la Garland Square, Crisis Zone) offer lots of targets to de-stress on,
including a couple that could potentially obstruct your view. Each of these
little things you hit counts as one hit, but only ten points. Plus, any shot
hitting these non-essential things carries through to whatever's behind it.
Case in point - S2A1-4, where player 2 is hiding behind a table with plates.
You can shoot out the plates, but if you shoot the plate right in front of
player 2, you get the giant X and lose 1000 points.

Don't disregard time bonus. If you're not all that great at sinking constant
head shots, end of area bonuses can easily make up for it - I've gotten up to
+87500 for the end of the stage. Earlier on, a bonus of that level can almost
double your score output for the entire area.

This is especially important if you're playing with a partner. Since the time
bonus is given to both players, 87500 * 2 = 175000. That is virtually like
having a third player, in terms of scoring. In fact, the major factor in
increasing my points in link play has solely been learning to eliminate targets
faster and increasing the speed bonus. It normally plays out (for me) at around
60k-80k+ per area. Multiply that by 18 (nine areas, both players) and that's
1.08mil - 1.44mil+. In other words, almost up to half of my combined scores.

Other than that, my focus has been mostly on speed and time efficiency (I used
to be about one-hit kills - now I'm tired of being asked to play so I shoot to
finish ASAP :p), not scoring, so I am willing to field-test any interesting
suggestions or strategies. BUT! If you send in a score tip about a particular
area or boss, make sure I haven't already covered it in the player 1
walkthrough.

V. Player 1 Walkthrough (sketch)

Okay, enough general babble. Time to take it to the screen.

Pardon me if this is a little out of order or skipping sections, as I'm
recreating the game in its entirety from memory.

If your experience doesn't mesh with mine, chances are you're right, but also
consider - the game plays differently depending on whether you're playing link
play or solo. This FAQ is for 1p link play. Biggest noticeable example is the
"tower" and the section just before (S2A1-13 and 14) - in solo, there are no
yellow soldiers here. They're all red instead, and they'll give you a headache
if you're used to link. Another one seems to be S3A3-6, where instead of
turning around to cover your partner in link, you just get a few token more
troops on your side (although it increasingly seems that 2p's performance can
affect how many soldiers show on your side).

Best tip: look at the whole screen. You usually can't afford to confine your
awareness to one portion of the screen - as the game is set up to frustrate
people like that several times over. :p

Second best tip: do your best to not find yourself working against the clock.
Kill fast. This is Time Crisis, after all. :p The game is fond of introducing
more enemies if you don't accomplish a certain number of kills in each section
before a timer.

[Spoilers warning! - I have attempted to eliminate as much story as possible.
However, TCIII doesn't exactly have the greatest story to begin with, so I
don't feel too bad. Either way, I will not refer to cut-scenes or FMVs, but if
there is something that needs to be mentioned, I will mention it. Besides,
watching the demo clip should ruin just about any surprises I could give
anyway. :p]

S1-A1 - The Approach

Both players start in the water and move in towards a beachfront awfully
reminiscent of some sort of WWII activity.

A1-01. Nothing more than an exercise to get your feet wet (pardon the pun).
About nine or ten green guys appear - first three, then individually from both
sides of the screen. There's a yellow in the mix too - your first special
weapons ammo (machinegun-shotgun-machinegun?).

A1-02. This section starts off with two green guys positioned in the middle of
the screen and a machinegun soldier strafing in from the right. Expect maybe
another six or seven green soldiers popping their heads on - one may be tough
to spot near the bottom since the tide seems to cover him at times. Another
yellow soldier (machinegun x3?) will appear in the middle too. Your penalty for
taking too much time here will be another machinegunner from the left.

A1-03. This is the first time enemies will have to actually look in different
directions to target different players. Initially, it'll just be another set of
green soldiers. If I'm not mistaken, a pair of yellow and red soldiers will
appear twice afterwards, with maybe two green in between. The first red is
pointed at 2p (and the next one after that at you), but both take so long to
fire that it shouldn't be a problem. The yellow here gives three machinegun, I
think.

A1-04. Two green standing on sand, just shooting. After they fall, a ninja will
pop up out of the sand. You can very much shoot it down before it hits the
ground - if you don't, it'll rush up to player 1 (you), swipe and run away. By
rush, I mean move slightly faster than walk. Player 2 will have a ninja appear
at about the time 1p's ninja was supposed to land, and it'll do likewise.
Another ninja will rush each player in a similar attack pattern, accompanied by
a green and a yellow guy in the back. I think the yellow here may give
machinegun, shotgun, machinegun.

A1-05. "Cliff Sniping." Your vision shifts to some rather distant targets -
your first real accuracy test, but not very difficult at that. Look to the top
of the highest tower, the balcony on said tower, the base of that tower, on top
of the building to the right, on the base of that building, and a soldier to
rush up from the left. At that point, the tower should crack, giving you your
first Danger! warning and producing a green guy at the bottom. It will bounce
once, and then hit both players at the second bounce. A microsecond after it
cracks, though, a yellow guy will appear in the lower-left area
(shotgun-grenade-shotgun). After the tower bounces away (bounces?), any
soldiers you missed are cleared away.

A1-06. Coming back down to the beach, there's more of the same. Of interest is
the machinegun guy who strafes out from behind the rock formation on the left
after you take down the first three is called. Three more green guys will
appear sporadically, but all will give you plenty of time to notice them. In
link play, expect two or so green from 2p's side to straggle on to yours.

A1-07. Introducing the blue rocket launcher soldier. And introducing your first
shortcut. If you choose to slug it out, you're up against at least two
machinegunners and two rocket launcher soldiers. I believe there may be one or
two green soldiers to follow, but not likely. If you'd rather not, there's a
short stack of three barrels on the right. Pop any one of them with your weapon
of choice for an instant +5000 and watch the rock formation overhead come
crashing down on everybody hostile.

Of course, if you want, you could take a grenade to it and nail all three
barrels at once for +15000. I usually do, unless my partner beats me to it.

A1-08. "Paratroopers." You'll start to see a bunch of green guys come
parachuting around horizontally (for the most part). Each guy, no matter how
close to the screen, is onsidered ard-to-hit and gives you good points for just
nailing them, so take advantage f it. I can't clearly remember how the waves of
paratroopers proceeds, but hey basically fly by as target practice.

It's time to get serious once the camera angle shifts back down to the beach.
Off-screen to your left, a green, a blue-rocket, and machinegunner will be
making their way in - player 2 has first shot at them. There's also a yellow
guy and two greens parachuting in. If you hit the yellow guy before his
parachute collapses, you can pick up machinegun-grenade-shotgun. After he
lands, that becomes machinegun-shotgun-machinegun. (Again, feel free to correct
me if my memory is wrong.)

Once those are taken out, it's back to the skies for more shootin' fun. I have
never seen a red bullet *ever* from those guys, so unless your machine is
jacked to maximum difficulty, it's probably a safe bet that you can just stand
and deliver.

(note: correction. in the several months since I last updated this, I saw *one*
red bullet. Maybe the arcade I was at was way too easy but I've only seen it
*once* in over 300 games.)

A1-09. "Invasion of Normandy." Notice that big cannon firing rather recklessly
in the background and nearly managing to hit you? Yeah, you'll be going for
that soon enough. In the meantime, hop in a ditch and shoot the two green guys
standing around. Another will appear, partially concealed by the barrels to the
left of your screen. He'll disappear about halfway through your leftward
movement, though, so if you want (to shoot) him, be quick. Your character will
shift left and more people will come for you. In no particular order: two green
guys (middle and right), one blue-rocket (stationed on the left), one
machinegun (moving towards the screen from mid-right), one yellow climbing out
of the bunker (machinegun-shotgun-machinegun again?), and almost simultaneously
one red from the left.

Note 1: You can actually keep shooting the cannon from here, and do as much as
2/3 - 3/4 lifebar damage to it before you even have to face it. If you
strategize properly (eg. only take out the green behind the barrels as you
start shifting left), you can actually increase your combo for the whole
duration of this section, and finish with something like 56+ hits (at least
what I did with pistol), besides making the last section here much, much
shorter.

Note 2: Player 2, if generous enough, can take out at least the machinegunner
and one green from his perspective.

A1-10. "Tunnel Race." Welcome to the pits. You have four green to eliminate,
who'll come popping out from the sides. Player 2 has a machinegunner and a
couple of extra guys. (Again, I'm of the opinion that solo has five to take
care of here).

Why call this "Tunnel Race?" For sections 10-12, if both players are present,
the first one to clear out the enemies on their side will conveniently cause a
bomb or something to clear out the other player's side and advance. Hence, it
winds up being a race between me and my normal playing partners, and saving
grace if I'm not paying attention. :)

FYI, player 2 starts off here with a blue-flamethrower in his face.

A1-11. You'll face two green guys. Four more will pop out sequentially from
both sides. 2p gets a machinegunner and a couple of green. If you're racing
your partner, expect to almost consistently lose here. :)

A1-12. You start here with two green in the lower half of the screen, but
almost immediately a red comes in from the right and takes a relatively early
shot at you. Two more green guys will peek from the sides. Player 2 has a few
blue soldiers (rockets and hand axe) to deal with.

A1-13. Both players will rejoin and take to an open battlefield, where the
first thing you will experience is lag. I kid you not. :p There are two green
and one blue-rocket on screen when you start off - the green are towards the
right half, and the blue-rocket is positioned fairly far left. Very shortly (in
some order that I forgot), a yellow will stroll in from the right, a
machinegunner will fire on you as he descends into the tunnel, and a red will
also make an appearance from the right. Add an additional one or two green for
flavor, and you can guess why it lags.

Both players have some overlap here, so whoever's in a generous mood can
assist. Or steal the yellow, if you so choose.

A1-14. [Boss] If you took my advice in A1-09, the cannon itself should be
pretty weak. Regardless of life bar, it's stationed on a building with at least
two green peeking out from underneath it (a long slit across the bottom of the
building, extending right), and one possibly tucked in the corner. As time goes
by, another green will come right up next to the cannon itself, and one will
try running across the screen for no good reason. I'm not sure if anything else
happens after that, 'cause that's all the patience I had before I nailed the
cannon and brought the house down. :p Needless to say, terminating the cannon
finishes the section and this area. Preferred weapon: machine gun.

FYI, the first shot of the cannon is always aimed at player 1, and will always
hit. The next two shots will go to player 2. After that, you're on your own. ;)

S1-A2 - The "Abandoned" Ship

A2-01. Simple stuff, and my mind seems to have lost this part. :p Two or three
green to start almost in your face, but again, nothing to worry too much about.
A yellow will roll along the bottom of the screen and stand up (all
machinegun?). Two green will come in behind the yellow. You should be getting
the hang of shooting anything that moves by now. :p

A2-02. "Trap Door." There are three green that start off here - a couple of
them are actually somewhat taking cover, but all are along the bottom half. One
will take up position on the left. After the three are gone, two green will
open the door in the back). One more yellow will lean out in the same hallway
the two green just came from. A green will also dive to the left, but a
split-second later, a red will step out from the right to take a quick shot at
you. A half-second after that, for some odd reason a green jumps down via a
trap door in the ceiling - I usually don't get to see his head while he's alive.

A2-03. This is probably the first time you're actually likely to take a hit if
you don't know what's coming. From left to right, a blue-rocket (aimed at 2p),
a red (aimed at 1p), a green, and a blue-grenade (aimed at 1p), will step out
and take their respective shots.

A Jeep will skid in from the left, bearing at least a machinegunner, two blue
soldiers (rocket, I believe) and a green. I'm sure there are a couple of other
soldiers after them, but the time-efficient thing here is to unload a full clip
into the Jeep they were driving - +5000 and kills all.

A2-04. The two that draw you into here join to be four green guys - three
aiming at you. Of particular importance is the one lying on the pipe near the
top right corner of the screen; that one's occasionally fired red on the first
shot. Otherwise, they're not worth mentioning.

That'll be followed by another green and a blue-grenade from the left. Shortly
after that, a red will pop in from the right, but you have some time to get the
first shot off.

A2-05. "Volatile." Once in position, you'll have three green and one yellow guy
around a particularly inviting large gas tank. The yellow gives
(shotgun-machinegun-shotgun), I believe. A machinegunner should show up after
one or two go down, but that really doesn't matter to you, 'cause four pistol
shots or one shotgun blast detonates the tank, wipes everyone up for you, and
nets +5000. As with all shortcuts, score people should probably play through
any section without using the shortcut once to see how many targets are there -
and then kill all but the last one before setting off the shortcut.

A2-06. "Claustrophobia." Two green soldiers with riot shields will start
advancing. The shields themselves will take over two pistol clips easily to
render worthless, but can be shot down. A much faster (but more precise) way
involves shooting the little bit of elbow/body that appears on their left.

Why would speed be important here? Because in fast succession, a yellow from
the left (a grenade in there, I think), a blue-rocket from the right (at 2p), a
red from the left (aimed at 1p) and a blue-rocket again from the right (at 1p)
will appear behind them. The game can be unfair sometimes, and here's one - you
may be screened by the two shield guys and unable to see the red flares
indicating a shot from behind. Of course, as 1p, you're getting a red and a
blue-rocket firing at you, which means there's a pretty good chance you'll get
hit if you can't see them.

A2-07. Turn around, and two green guys are bearing down on you from behind.
Laugh them off - er - shoot them down. A Jeep will come crashing in through the
right wall, bringing a machinegunner and at least two green as company, all
around the middle of the screen. Proceed to ignore them and shoot the Jeep,
which starts at half life (presumably for crashing through the wall). Another
+5000 and instant death. One day, somebody should keep a body count of how many
people you actually take down. :p

A2-08. "The Hook." For no particular reason, there's a hook in the middle of
the screen. You can shoot it to swing it, but I haven't found any other reason
for its existance other than to obstruct a possible shot.

Three green start you off here. Almost immediate follow-up will be a
machinegunner in the left half of the screen, a blue-hand axe (relatively
well-covered to your mid/lower-left by boxes) that alternates starting at 2p,
and a blue-rocket (not so well covered to your upper-right) starting at you.
Once that's done, a lone green will charge from between the boxes. Who knows.

Soon after that, the rightmost box will bust open and two machinegunners will
make their presence known. The one on the right aims for you. And a little
after that, a red guy will roll in from the lower-left and take a second to aim
at you.

A2-09. Perspective here may be a little different than what you're used to, and
it can make for more difficult shooting. From atop the boxes, the section will
start with two flamethrowers in the bottom middle. The one gunning for you will
make one pass on the ground (precisely where you are not), and then adjust and
come back for you up there. In order, you'll see a green peering out from the
left boxes; a yellow in the upper-right hand corner, on a walkway with railing;
another couple of green pointed at player 2; and a red in the lower-right
corner that shoots somewhat quickly.

A2-10. Jumping back down, there should be a green and a yellow waiting for you
to begin - the yellow is aiming at you, the green is not. Your view will begin
to shift up and right as more guys appear from behind boxes (mostly aimed at
2p) - two green and one yellow. In the middle of that, though, a red steps out
from the lower right, in your face. If you don't have a relatively fast trigger
finger, I'd probably suggest you duck instead of trying to beat him to the
punch.

After that, your character will pan left for two more guys near the top of the
boxes. Meantime, player 2 is dealing with a green and a red to your
lower-right/center, which you probably should assist with once your box friends
are dealt with.

A2-11. "Slip..." The boxes will dislocate and four green guys (looking kinda
grey-ish here) will step out of the boxes, two aiming at you. One to pay
attention to is peeking out of the left of the topmost right box. Watch for a
red to pop up from the boxes closest to you, on the left half of the screen.
Once that's done, a machinegunner will pop up for each side and begin firing
while converging in the middle - yours will start much later than player 2, so
feel free to assist if you want his score.

A2-12. "...slide..." Now everything's tilted and sliding. You're not, but boxes
and soldiers are. Like A1-08 "Paratroopers," it seems to be more shooting
practice than anything else. There are three yellow guys that come through, on
top of the six or so green - you will get some shotgun shells, but mostly
machinegun. As usual.

A2-13. "...and fall." You will be opposite your partner here, and boxes will
not do much to help you. A couple of green guys will start you off. Two yellow,
one green, and one red will all jump down at the same time - fortunately for
you, this red is aimed at 2p, as well as one yellow. Dispose at will. An
identical wave will come again, except this red is going for you, and is
partially obscured by the most prominent box on the left half of your screen.
There may be another two green afterwards, but I don't believe so.

S1-A3. The Mad Gunner

Remember the guy in the helicopter? It's time.

A3-01. The three targets here are the main gun at the bottom middle of the
copter, and the two mounted rocket launchers on its wingblades. (Why does it
have wingblades *and* a rotor?) You'll probably want to start with the main gun
- its initial salvo seems to be only for display, so you can pound on it to
your heart's content. After that initial salvo, then it appears to turn
extremely deadly - streams of red. Of course, you have plenty of time before
that to machinegun it to death. Your attention shifts towards the right rocket
launcher first (Alicia shows favoritism! :p), and then sways back towards the
left. Any rockets launched from the right will hit 2p, left will hit 1p. No red
flares or signals. But these ones you can shoot down - and they can be pretty
helpful in keeping a combo going while the view shifts and sways.

[Readers say:] Aks (e-mail withheld by request) points out that the copter
itself could either be the V-22 Osprey or a variant thereof, a Navy combined
helicopter/airplane project. Unfortunately, the links I have are old (possibly
stale, well past their expiration date), so if you find this kinda interesting,
go search. Thanks!

As you let the rocket launchers go, they begin to shoot larger numbers of
rockets in fast sequence. Initially, you'll only see one for a couple of
seconds. Over time, it can jump to a string of three in a half-second, all of
which must be dodged, shot down, or eaten.

A3-02a. The Jeep parade begins. Immediately in front will be two Jeeps with
green guys in tow. Naturally, aim for the drivers. Another two will appear -
one in the distance holding  red (who won't fire for the ongest time), and one
that appears on your left with a machinegunner. Turning o the right, there'll
be another two Jeeps, one carrying a yellow and another carrying a ninja.

[timer reset here] 02b. In front, two more.

[timer reset here] 02c. The copter will fly overhead (shooting it does NOTHING,
so save your ammo and your accuracy percentage :p), and then line up to your
right and open three machinegun turrets' fire on you. There seems to be an
average of one or two reds to each player per stream.

For points, I guess you could sit there and plink at each one, but each
separate turret has a lifebar that's kinda considerable - something on the
order of one and a half pistol clips each or something like that. My preferred
approach? One grenade. Six hits, +15300.

The copter will swing sideways and two separate yellow guys will appear, spaced
about a couple of seconds from each other. The first will appear from a doorway
to the right in the copter, and the second will appear from the top-left and
roll right. Each one, when shot up, will give (machinegun-grenade-shotgun). And
now you know why I use a grenade here.

[timer reset here] 02d. Swing around, and it's another three turrets with the
same strategy. Repeat A3-02c, without the additional yellow guys at the end.
The turrets are marginally closer here, so look for a little less time to react.

[timer reset here] 02e. [boss] The boss makes his first personal presence here.
He uses what looks like a modified automatic pistol on you, and it does make
things interesting. His initial greeting will be purely aimed at you, about a
half-second after he appears, and I'd advise against trying to stand in the
middle of the bullets since his red ones don't seem to be predictable. I do
remember seeing about seven or eight red flashes in the mess. After that, he'll
lob a grenade your way and then repeat to the other player. Either way, when
he's not unloading that autopistol on you, unload on him with your machinegun
(he's too far for a shotgun to work well here). When his lifebar's spent, he'll
retreat back into the copter. A yellow and a red guy will come out and provide
"cover," which you should stop back down pretty quickly
(machinegun-shotgun-machinegun).

As the angle changes, a shield green and a machinegunner will come out from
that same bay while the boss sets up in the door up and right of the bay. He'll
let loose his stream of bullets again, except halfway through he'll change his
aim and go after 2p. Again, counter his machinegun-like thingy with your
machinegun-like thingy. If you don't take him out after that, he'll lob a
grenade at 2p and repeat the process (I believe.)

You would think you get a fresh clock to take down another life bar, but I
didn't leave out a [reset] by mistake. You do *not* have tons of time here.

One decent strategy I've seen for taking down this (and any boss who likes fast
fire) is what I like to call "bobbing." You may have noticed that you can
actually take shots while you're in the motion of ducking - but you also retain
the normal invincibility of hiding. I've seen players continually lift and
press the pedal to basically stay in such a state, and it works pretty well for
them (I can't get it to work all that well). They'll take out the boss with a
machinegun while red bullets I thought were definitely going to hit them just
pass by. *shrug* Maybe you can play the whole game like that and ruin the pedal
springs? ;)

A1-03a. Two more Jeeps were on your trail, both bearing ninjas. If the Jeeps
manage to almost ram you, the ninajs will jump on your Jeep and swipe at you.
Naturally, we don't like that, so again dispose of the driver. There are
another two Jeeps afterwards.

[timer reset] 03b. Another look to the side will show two more Jeeps or so,
with nothing really worth talking about, so I won't. There may be a
(shotgun-machinegun-shotgun) yellow in there, but I can't really remember.

The last Jeep you have to take down is a little different - it's driven by a
yellow, and carries two yellows with it. A machinegun or shotgun can get you up
to nine weapon icons - including a respectable number of shotgun shells and a
grenade.

[timer reset] 03c. [boss] The boss flies on overhead and comes out the back bay
of the plane for more fun. Strategy remains the same as in the second half of
S3-02e. He'll pull back once he's had enough and a green and a machinegunner
will try to apply some pressure. After those two, a flamethrower will flip off
the copter onto the Jeep and start scorching. You have plenty of time to shoot
it down before it gets there.

[timer reset] 03d. [boss] "Desperation." The boss comes out, holding a massive
machinegun and laughing. The key here is to NOT shoot the gun itself - that
does no damage to the boss. You have to aim for something not covered to
inflict damage on him.

Anyway, his first thoughts are a massive spiral of bullets that, for all
intents and purposes, can be completely ignored since it never hits. You should
be able to deplete his lifebar with a machinegun (or a fast trigger finger on
your pistol) before he even finishes that spiral. Should he finish, he'll take
turns unloading lines of completely-red bullets on alternating players.
Starting with you. Wait until he decides to aim for 2p and then unload.

He throws away the thing and comes back out with... grenades. He'll throw
clusters of three at a time (to both players at the same time) while his life
is above half. Once it drops below half, he'll flinch (invincible during that
time), and spray his autopistol continuously against both players in short
stretches. Empty his lifebar here and it's finally done, though I don't
understand the ending of the boss here - why does it explode?

Preferred weapon: first machinegun, but after that, shotgun. Why shotgun? It's
possible to shotgun him to death after he switches back to his autopistol
before he can seriously become a threat with that autopistol - but only for the
quick. Not to mention that the shotgun can take out all three grenades at once,
thus eliminating the need for you to be fast or duck. Otherwise, I'd probably
stick with machinegun and spend some quality ducking time.

S2-A1 - The City

A1-01. You'll start off looking at two green (skewed towards the left half of
the screen), one blue-rocket (sitting on a Jeep), and a yellow in front of you.
Additional yellow soldiers will appear in the gap between two buildings at the
top of the screen, running in from the right, and leaning out from the hallway
from the left. Of course, I can't tell you what other reinforcements come since
the Jeep just asks to be exploded. (Now I can - there are none.) Interestingly,
even after you blow up the Jeep, the three yellows that come on screen later
aren't affected by it, so you can still get quite a bit of ammo.

A1-02. "Garland Square." 02-04 are pretty much reminiscent of the Crisis Zone -
Garland Square marketplace area, with the way everything's set up.

(I may have the order of the stalls here confused.)

This one starts off with a machinegunner directly firing on each player,
followed by more reinforcements from the sides. I can't really remember what
they are 'cause I just shoot them at the edge of the screen. :p There will be
one errant red guy, but he's aimed at 2p.  A couple more yellow soldiers will
pop up too, but otherwise, very little worth mentioning.

A1-03. This starts off with a green and a yellow for each side. Additional
green troops will come in from the sides, accompanied by a red for each side (I
believe 1p gets it first) and another yellow, in case you haven't had enough
ammo yet. I think it finishes with a yellow and a machinegunner for each side.

A1-04. This section starts with a ninja slashing at air at 2p. More fun to
follow, including another red guy for each side as well as yet again more
yellow. These three sections should be unfairly easy as long as you can
dispatch of people with relative ease.

A1-05. "Goin' up." You start off looking up at a machinegunner. A green will
poke his head out from upstairs to the right a little after. A red and a green
will appear together - but the green will be coming out from the right, whereas
the red is climbing over the wall, so plenty of time.

A1-06. A riot shield green starts here, who masks a yellow soldier behind him
(this one has a grenade). Again, you can either overpower the shield or shoot
the exposed parts (in this case, his right knee - left to the players). After
that, a ninja will jump down and then jump after you with his claws extended -
take him down. I believe he's consistently aimed at 2p, though, so you
shouldn't have to worry. Afterwards, a red will jump out from the right into a</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
prone position just as a green appears in the back (red aimed at 1p).

A1-07. In the beginning, two green will start in your face. Nail them. Two more
will appear on top: one from each side. After that, two more guys will come
forward from the doors (I believe there's a machinegunner and a green). Two
riot shield guys will come out from the left as well, and a red will step out
of the upper-left corner and take a quick shot at you. A yellow follows the
riot shield guys fairly fast. (machinegun-grenade-shotgun?)

A1-08. "Boom." In this small area, three machinegunners and one yellow. Two of
them and the yellow are aimed at you, and the machinegunners do occasionally
shoot red (though if I recall correctly, there may actually be patterns
here...?). 2p has a much better vantage point on the situation. However, as 1p
goes first here significantly before 2p, I prefer to not deal with it and
grenade the whole thing. (shotgun-shotgun-machinegun?)

A1-09. Four green guys as you go from right to left will start off. After you
take those four, a blue-hand axe will step from behind a wall in the middle, a
red will step out from the left, and another green will run past as yet another
green comes from the roof of the building on the right. (This last green only
appears if you're playing link.) Thereafter, the screen pans left to reveal a
green, a green, a blue-rocket, a yellow, and another green. No rush. If you're
playing with a partner, whoever finishes first will shift over and assist.

A1-10. Looking down at you are a green, a red, and a yellow, from left to
right. Replacing those will be two machinegunners, each one aiming at their
respective player. Not much to mention.

A1-11. "Speed shooting." There are two blue-rockets, two greens, and a yellow.
1p actually has enough time to take down every enemy before 2p has a chance to
even shoot. The blue-rockets are stationary, in the middle and to the right,
whereas the greens set up between the blue and just over to the left. The
yellow is on the far left.

A1-12. A green and a yellow start off the section, but soon a machinegunner
will bust open the door and come out with two green. A yellow will also fall
into the left portion of the screen. (first yellow:
machinegun-machinegun-shotgun? then: shotgun-grenade-shotgun?)

A1-13. From your vantage, two green guys will run after you (the one on the
left has this annoying tendency to fire a red while going). A machinegunner
will strafe in, but facing 2p means you're safe, paired with another green.
There's a green and a yellow with a riot shield facing you afterwards - head
shots will get you the yellow (machinegun x3?) before 2p can. Here, one
difference between solo and link is that the yellow with the riot shield is
red. Yep. Less ammo, one more VEO to deal with.

A1-14. "The arcs." You'll start looking at the base of some small arc-happy
structure (the best way to put it). There's a yellow to the left, and a few
greens around the base. Nothing should bother you here.

Solo: substitute the yellow in the back left with a red. Enjoy.

Then you pan upwards. There is a blue-rocket (aimed at you) in the top-middle,
two machinegunners (one aimed at you) kinda on top of each other on the right,
a token green guy, and a yellow smack in the middle. Almost immediately, a
machinegunner will start firing at you, and there *will* be a red bullet. In
the meantime, the rocket guy will take his time and fire two rockets at you,
both red as well. Once anybody is done shooting, they'll switch sides and
resume again, so you don't have much time between breaks to take down anyone
you can. I usually go after the gunners first, even though logic dictates that
eliminating the rocket soldier is faster for relieving pressure.

A1-15. Both players split up here with their own sides to take care of. You
start with three green soldiers well spread out. The view then shifts
down-left, where you'll have two green approaching from the ground, at least
two green on the left (one on the balcony), and another green on the lower
building to your right. To complicate matters, a red will come into the left
balcony and cover himself well while taking a relatively fast first shot, while
a blue-hand axe will step out from behind a wall on the right. That done, you
pan a little to the right and two more green come on the top roof. A green and
a yellow will be on the bottom roof, the green aiming at you but the yellow not
right away. One solitary green guy rounds out this area.

A1-16. "Why?" Three green, two shooting at you. That's it. Which begs the
question - why is that even there?

A1-17. "Upside-down." Yep, you read that right. If you've played Confidential
Mission and gotten far enough in Stage 2, you've handled one upside-down
section. This is one.

To start, there is a blue-rocket and two green scattered about. Two more will
come in, from your right. Nothing dangerous - just enjoy the change of pace.

A1-18a(b?). "Biker gang." All machinegunners on motorcycles, all shotgun for
moi. You have to terminate about six - eight before you get a break. The key
here is to pay careful attention to when they're turned their guns on you -
more often than not, there's one red in each burst they fire. When they need to
turn around or otherwise manipulate the bike, they tend to completely ignore
you, so don't ignore them then. If you're not all that great at targeting them,
expect at least one more reinforcement before you get to advance. Preferred
weapon: shotgun, though I'm not sure why. Machinegun can work pretty well.

Why the question mark? It seems that if you're playing with a partner, and you
manage to eliminate your share of bikers first, you get a fresh clock to assist
your partner with part.

[timer reset] 18b(c?). "Circus shooting." The distance that most of the guys
are requires a good bit of accuracy (or spamming) to get. There will be two
green in the bottom middle, somebody up top, and a fourth guy milling around
the middle. Once that's done, a red will appear in the top middle (going for
you), a blue-hand axe in the lower middle portion, and a little later a yellow
from the upper-left.

Back to the bikers. Again, you'll need to take down a certain number of them,
but you'll get no clock change. Same thoughts. I believe the remaining number
is four.

S2-A2. The Cliffs

A2-01. The first thing you'll see is two green soldiers positioned around the
rocks in front of you. They'll be pretty close to you, so they'll be tough to
miss. Various soldiers will start running in from the right, though nothing to
really worry about - though it may be kinda hard to notice a total of two green
and one blue-rocket that stay in the back. Again, for no good reason, one
particularly silly green will jump out
from a rock in the mid-left and try shooting at you from there.

A2-02. You and your partner will take up positions along the river. 1p will
start shifting right. There will be two green soldiers in the middle to start
before the camera begins shifting. A yellow (? no idea) will run across
left-to-right shortly after your camera moves, which will be accompanied in a
quarter-second by a red popping out with a quick shot from between the rocks in
the middle of the current view. Past those rocks, a blue-rocket will come in
from the right, and another red will step in from the left. Both should not
pose a serious threat, as they seem more interested in 2p.

A2-03. More water action, more soldiers coming out from behind rocks. The two
key spots to monitor here are the small rock gathering in the middle left of
the screen, and the close right one. Virtually all soldiers will appear from
those two spots, though early on, a blue-rocket will step into a small gap in
the back-right. The order is roughly: green from both spots, yellow from left,
green from right (and blue-rocket), two green. To end the section, two green
soldiers will cross the screen left-right and right-left, respectively.

A2-04. Running back on land gives you the first significant resistance of the
area. A blue-flamethrower will turn on 2p as a machinegunner comes out for you.
A blue-hand axe will appear on the left. After them, two machinegunners will
appear behind a rock up the middle, again one aiming at each player. To make
things fun, after that another machinegunner will come from the right side in
(aimed at you), accompanied by a green that comes up from the middle. Not to
mention another machinegunner. After, a flamethrower comes in from the right
for 2p, and another blue-hand axe behind him to the left.

A2-05. "Why? again." What can I say? The whole theme here seems to be shooting
on and around rocks. The two main areas to watch for incoming soldiers is the
footbridge on the left, and off-screen from the right (which means that 2p can
do something to assist you). A machinegunner and a green should start you off
on the left, followed by two more green from the left and a green or two
obscured pretty well by the rocks to your right. Naturally, they're much more
likely to be for 2p. And then, for no good reason, a green hand-vaults over a
railing while a green and a yellow rush over behind him.

Be careful here - very soon after the yellow from the left appears
(shotgun-machinegun-shotgun?), if 2p isn't able to stop a red from coming
across his screen, he;ll dive behind the rocks on your right, come out and take
off a quick life. You *can* beat him to the punch - however, you've got to
pretty much know when he's coming out in order to do that.

A2-06. Two greens with riot shields obscure a red, but it's not as if you can't
hit all three from your position. A ninja will get in your face pretty quickly
after you take them out.

Here, both players will face different portions and come back to the middle.
When 1p turns
left, the first thing that'll show is a small blue-rocket in the middle-left
part of the screen. [insert another ninja in your face here.] As you pan back
right, a green will run down from the top of the screen; another will peek out
of the left side of a box, then pop on top; a yellow will be right behind the
box green; and there will be a rather open shooting area. Most targets will be
green (including one silly one that jumps in from the right), but do be careful
of a machinegunner coming up the middle, and pay attention for an errant yellow
to show its head here.

A2-07. More shooting. About eight to ten soldiers will appear from behind
boxes, none of them a serious threat. There also will be another ninja in your
face here, I believe, but can be shot down with an exceptionally fast trigger
finger before he pulls off his swipe. There is a yellow here, but I have no
clue what he drops.

A2-08. Ninjas will make an annoying appearance here, perhaps as a prelude to
S2-A3?

(memory extremely vague, will fill in later - suffice it to say there will be
at least two pairs of ninja, who will be jumping around. The first 1p ninja
will show up barely off-screen, come in *and* attack simultaneously which can
be annoying, and then hop to 2p.)

Though memory may be vague, there is a time shortcut here for the quick of
finger (again, not necessarily what you want if you're playing for max kills).
As the section starts, a ninja will jump down in front of you and cartwheel
left (after 2p), as a yellow and someone else appears in the background right.
If you can kill the ninja before he crosses over to 2p side AS HE'S
CARTWHEELING (technically, before he crosses over into 2p's view), and then
nail the two in the background, you will skip the rest of this section. I kid
you not - I've been able to reproduce it consistently. Note that you'll need to
know about this ahead of time, and a focused machinegun or good trigger finger
is essential to catching him before he flips away.

A2-09. "Volatile again." Back to more boxes. Your attention should first be to
the body of water in the upper-left, as a couple of green will be there. While
one green tries to climb up on a box platform, a yellow will appear on the
right and rolloff-screen to 2p right (shotgun-grenade-machinegun?). In the
small bit of free water in the lower-left/mid area, a red will follow with a
somewhat quick shot and retreat. Then your attention is brought to a platform
with two machinegunners and a wooden box with "volatile" plastered on it. I
think you know what to do at this point. :p +5000.

A2-10. "House crashing." A window will open here with a green on the right,
followed by a pan to the right. There will be a red and a green pretty well
hidden by the logs (though the red will have to stand up to shoot), as well as
a blue-rocket and machinegunner for 2p. Your vision will pan back left and more
windows will open - a green and a yellow (grenade). Looking to the roof,
there'll be one green on the middle. A red is pretty well hidden behind the
chimney - you can peg him before he comes out, but it does take a little bit of
a skill shot. Again, coming back down, look for a blue-rocket and a red in the
window, and then a red and machinegunner to come out of the house towards the
left. In the meantime, two pairs of a green and a blue-rocket (? or one may be
grenade) will come out from the left. The blue and one green will head for the
boxes in the right.

A2-11. The theme of this section is blue-hand axe/ninja. That pairing will
start you off - a ninja will bounce in from the left while a blue-hand axe
walks in. It shouldn't take exceptional effort to eliminate both. You
involuntarily duck, and pop back up to see a green and a yellow shooting at
you, with a red to enter momentarily from the left. From there, another pair -
the ninja again hops in from the left, and the blue-hand axe is annoyingly
well-hidden by a big rock on the right, even as he throws. The ninja here will
not hit you until he dives under you, and tries to jump up in your face for the
hit. Both are aiming for you, but if 2p isn't exceptional, don't expect help -
he's going to have
something to take care of himself.

Looking upwards, that pair will appear again - a ninja jumps off a cliff in
your face as a blue-hand axe stays on the cliff. Again, both are aiming for you.

A2-12. "Subs." First of two sections that will consist mostly of submarines as
your enemy. The minimum number you have to take down to advance here is four.
The gun of the submarine itself begins firing at whoever it's pointed at when
the sub appears, and the missile usually tends to fire at the other player
occasionally. Preferred weapon: grenade/shotgun.

A2-13. More again, except this time, you start off with a sub's machinegun in
your face. As 1p, I usually don't recommend trying to squeeze in a shot between
the initial barrage of shots. Bobbing may work, though I've seen the same
people wind up taking hits here. Otherwise, the minimum here is three subs.
After the first sub, there will be a ninja to watch for, and a green that's
trying to climb up a rock to pick off. On the final sub, a ninja will also come
in off of it to distract you, but with a shotgun, it shouldn't be much at all.

S2-A3. The Train

This whole part makes me think they wanted to add an additional area to the
train thingy in TCII, but couldn't so they did it here instead.

A3-01. You'll notice an exceptional amount of ninja in this area, and with due
explanation from the cutscene. This area starts off with two yellow on top of
the box immediately in front of you, with a green in the back.

Look for two things: soldiers patrolling the top of the boxes (who can be shot
down pretty easily), and ninja to jump in from everywhere, run up to you, and
take a swipe. There are at least three ninja to consider here.

A3-02. Turning around, the first thing in your face are two ninjas kinda just
standing around, and a green and a red in the back. Expect more ninja flipping
in and more soldiers wandering around, though there will be some that will
start requiring a little bit of accuracy, as they're lying down or otherwise
prone.

A3-03. "Side shooting." Your second concern should be the gunmen in the distant
cars; your first one should be the two machinegunners much closer to you and
firing on you. After that, two ninja will hop in from the right... and one will
just jump away to harass 2p. If you're not paying attention, a red will come
out to the right, from behind a box on the left, and take a quick shot at you
while the ninjas are hopping. Incidentally, here they don't need to slash you
to hit you - if they spin-jump into your screen, it counts as a hit. After
that's done, you'll see more ninja hop across the train roofs. Shoot as you
wish.

Another pair will come in and run down the right along the train - and if you
didn't take out the red that shot at you the first time, he'll make another
surprise appearance. These ones will run up to you and jump to score their hit.

As your vision adjusts back left, watch for a box panel to slide open. Once it
does, it's your cue to *duck* - I have never been able to, or seen anyone, take
out the ninja that slashes you pretty quickly and disappears just as quick. On
the other hand, there is a small yellow soldier about a box or two back that
presumably serves as a distraction. It's not impossible to get all three hits
on the yellow before the ninja hits you - just very, very tough.

[edit: I can take out that ninja consistently. You do need to know where he
will pop up and squeeze off three shots real fast, however.]

A yellow will sit in the empty box the ninja was in, and you'll basically get
to pick off soldiers meandering around the top of the boxes. (vocabulary! I
hope that's not throwing off people. :p)

A3-04. Back on top of the train, you'll be greeted by a pair of blue-grenade,
then ninja to follow. Look for prone (and thus harder to hit) yellow guys lying
down in the back. There will be at least two waves of ninja here, plus
miscellaneous soldiers. As the train starts to slow, green-machinegun-green
will come out from behind the box in front of you. Behind them will be a green
and a machinegunner. Look for a lot of blue-grenade soldiers (at least three)
to appear afterwards, and yet more ninja to get in your face.

Notice here that the game will continue to send enemies at you until the train
comes to a complete halt. If you complete the minimum batch as described above,
and the train's still grinding to a stop, you'll have at least another
machinegunner drop down, followed by two blue-rocket coming up from boxes in
front of you. That having been said, I have not yet seen a game where the timer
didn't drop below 15 seconds.

A3-05. [boss] A red ninja and two brown ones will be the only foes you face in
all these boss battles. As you can imagine, at least the brown ones will only
be able to hurt you by attacking with the claws. The red ninja (who gets the
formal "boss" designation) not only has claws, but attacks with a rocket
launcher as well. The rocket pretty much never misses, and you can't shoot it
down.

To clear this section, you'll have to drain three lifebars... maybe? The very
strange thing about any of the ninja boss fights is that there seems to be a
whole complicated flow-chart of event possibilities depending on whose lifebars
you take out first, and at what time. In any case, if you take down a brown
ninja, it disappears until the next "wait" signal. You apparently do *not* get
a new 40 seconds here until you're done - making you hurry.

No matter what events you do or don't get, two general attack patterns emerge.
First, they'll rush at you from straight ahead. If they're taking their time
getting to you - that is, taking a jump in between or so, you can afford to
pick at them until they come to you, 'cause their hit will be a claw slash. On
the other hand, if it seems pretty fast, duck - they won't need a hit motion to
do damage.

The other pattern - they'll just jump around and make themselves hard to hit.
Occasionally, they'll land and then attempt to hit you fast, but otherwise
you'll just have to focus fire and take them down while they're moving.

I can mention at least two scenarios here:

As 1p, wipe out the brown ninja coming at you right away. The second one will
take its place, as the red ninja begins firing rockets in the back. Careful,
though - unlike the first brown ninja, this one will hit you as he jumps into
your screen. Somehow you're supposed to see his claws extended or something - I
can't, and I'm playing on at least a 40" monitor up close. ;) After the second
one goes down, the red ninja will jump to the forefront and alternate rockets
between players until you eliminate him.

- or -

Wait for a little while. You want to apply damage to the boss in the meantime,
but not enough to kill him yet. After they bounce around for a little bit,
you'll see them start to converge together on top of a box in the back. If you
can empty the boss' lifebar at that moment, you get the cutscene *without*
having to bother with two other lifebars.

Preferred weapon: machinegun, though the more I think about it, shotgun could
be more worthwhile in the first few seconds. Tested, and seems only a second
faster.

A3-06. "Train hanging." There are about eight soldiers here total to worry
about (and two that come flying off the supports above for effect). Pick them
as fast as you can see them - two will peek out from the left of the box right
in front of you. Look down to catch at least one of them. The final one here is
a machinegunner.

A3-07. From left to right, sitting on the box is a green-machinegunner-green.
What you may *not* see is the blue-grenade right behind them. Blue-grenade
starts with 2p, machinegunner starts at you. After they all go, you have a
Danger! event, then two green who seem to be looking for any survivors.
Naturally, bang.

A3-08. This is kind of an ammo-reloading break before you go back up against
the boss again. Two green will sit on top of the closest box, and two yellow
(for each side!) will step out of the left of boxes. Lots of machinegun, and I
believe two shotgun?

A3-09. [boss] Welcome back. It's different specific patterns than in A3-05, but
general strategies are the same - duck when something rushes at you, otherwise
shoot down three lifebars? Completely different flowcharts here as well, and I
can't tell you what route I consistently follow since I don't seem to follow
one at all. There is another way to end this section by only draining the boss'
lifebar, but I'm not familiar with it. Preferred weapon: machinegun. They tend
to stay farther away when not attacking.

A3-10a. [boss] This time, the red ninja starts off in your face. Fortunately
for you, he's facing 2p. Behind you is a brown ninja waiting to swap plaaces
with red. And yet again, there are several different ways to proceed about this
section.

The method I use? All three lifebars will come off the boss. First, start
immediately with shotgun and blast him away. He'll jump up to a railing -
switch to machinegun and drain him again. Finally, the boss will start jumping
around by himself, occasionally firing a slow rocket - machinegun again.

A3-10b. [boss] "Last stand." Pretty weak for a way to go - he'll just stand in
place and alternate between a rocket to you and a claw swipe at 2p. One grenade
or your choice of gun ends this encounter. He can't be hit until the moment he
lands on the box, in case you're going for perfect accuracy.

S3-A1. The Assault

One nice thing about this area is that both players share virtually the same
screen the entire area, letting the more generous help.

A1-01. Three green guys will be at the bottom of the screen, spread out. One
yellow and a green will appear - yellow on the right, green on the left.
Another yellow will climb the closest box on the right.

A1-02. "Watchtower." You'll start with two machinegunners pretty distant from
you - namely, on the lower level of the tower in the background. One has
already started firing on you when you begin - the other is looking at 2p.
After those two are eliminated, you'll see a pair of green on both sides of the
upper level, with a pair of red right behind them. They're aimed opposite of
what you might expect - the red on the right goes for you. Thankfully, those
red take some time to get into position.

Looking back down at the base of the tower, you get another pleasant surprise:
in the floor in front of you, two red (one facing you) that fire almost
immediately. Behind a short stack of wood behind them, there are two
blue-grenade surrounding a green (the blue-grenade on the right goes for you).

A1-03. "No shame in cowardice." As if you haven't had enough red in your face,
this area starts off with two more machinegunners, one sort of distant upstairs
but still pulling off a few red bullets. If you can't dispose of him in about
two seconds, you'll have to contend with him *and* a blue-rocket upstairs (from
the right) that tends to never miss, as well as a surprise red from the left
(ground level) that fires two red bullets to start off. Oh, and if you haven't
had enough yet, a yellow will pop out of the door on the top floor whose first
shot never misses, and another machinegunner will make things much more fun. 2p
will have some fun of his own to contend with, including two machinegunners and
a surprise red that gets in his face fast.

A1-04. "Treads and guns." Be grateful you're not playing from 2p side here.

From your position, you'll only have to worry about any soldiers on-screen -
the tank's weapons will never come your way. That having been said, the
machinegunner on top of the tank is not very kind. Expect at least four red
shots per stream. Your main focus is the tank, but the tank will get soldier
reinforcements in the shape of green soldiers running in from the upper-left
after a little while. Don't ignore them - they're actually much better than
your average green, and can make you duck even more on top of the
machinegunner's fire. Two grenades, or lots of fire, will take this one down.
Preferred weapon: two grenades.

A1-05. The tank again, except you're now on ground-level. Again, you'll have
the machinegunner gunning for you. Unfortunately, you'll also have the tank's
main cannon going for you too, and since you're so close, you really have
little to no time to dodge a shot. Worse yet, it barely gives you any
indication when it's going to fire. (If you play the game enough, you'll learn
the exact timing of at least its first shot - which is the only way I can
really say you'll be sure to avoid it.)

However, this should not be any more than marginally tougher than the first
tank, if not actually easier since you're a lot less pressured given only the
tank gunner (this one can't seem to hit nearly as well). Grenade(s) and/or
fire, and just concentrating on destroying the tank, will help things out.
Don't expect lots of help from 2p if your battle with this tank draws out long
- he'll get lots of distractions. Preferred weapon: one grenade, shotgun.

A1-06. What should get your attention at the start is a lone machinegunner
coming up from the very back of the whole area. Otherwise, the only other thing
to look out for is a yellow that runs by, a ninja that may choose to go after
you (or 2p), and a really fast yellow in the background that runs through the
middle arch and that's it. There is a red here, but I believe it's always
pointed at 2p.

A1-07a. More shooting here - there will be quite a few blue-rocket and red
soldiers dashing back and forth, but as long as you're reasonably quick on the
trigger finger, the only time you should need to duck is to reload. Keep your
eyes peeled for a blue-rocket running in from the far left, and a yellow
leaning out at the same time. (grenades!)

[timer reset] 07b. "Rafters." The first thing you'll see are two machinegunners
that unload one clip (pretty meaningless since nothing hits) and jump off the
building. That's kinda the last you ever see of them, so I treat them as free
points.

Ninja will starting jumping around the beams - figure about three jumps before
they reach one player. If you can't take them down, they don't attack
immediately after they land close enough to hit, so you have time to duck. I
count roughly six altogether.

Looking back down, you get another area of things running around and by. Again,
nothing truly special to speak of - prioritize the red and blue-rocket first
and you'll be just fine. Four soldiers in all.

Turn right, and there's some more problems to deal with. Your first target
should be the red on the right, in the back, who's about to take a pretty
stylish jumping shot and hit you with it. On the left, there's a green kneeling
there (it can shoot red at you if you're not careful). Up top is a yellow, and
another yellow will step in your face as if it were a red. Fortunately, it's
not.

[timer reset] 07c. A complete 180 reveals a red standing in front of the right
side of the boxes, two machinegunners (the one that strafes right from
off-screen is going after you, the one sitting on a protruding box does not),
and a lone green to the left.

A1-08. [boss] "The Wild Pair." From here to the very end of S3-A1 is all about
Wild Dog and Wild Fang. Wild Dog has served as a villian's accomplice in all
three Time Crisises (Crises?). Wild Fang is a new character.

Wild Dog originally favored twin pistols in TCI... of course, that was before
he lost his arm. He had a machinegun grafted in for TCII, but he apparently got
a little pissed that he lost again and opted for a mini-gun with flamethrower
and rocket launcher option for TCIII. Not that he doesn't still wield an
old-fashioned pistol in his good hand. The flamethrower has the same fritzy hit
detection that a blue-flamethrower has, which makes it all the more annoying.
His rockets are not always lethal (you'll see a red flash if it is), but
they'll always blow up, covering a good part of your view with smoke and
otherwise making things harder to see for about 1/2 second.

Wild Fang's introduction should give you some idea what kind of personal power
he has. He supplements his hand-to-hand attacks with a pistol, which he tends
to shoot sideways, and with extremely variable (though generally pathetic)
results. Generally though, with Wild Fang, your concern will be his feet, which
he will use in one of two ways: either kick you directly, or kick
boxes/tires/construction beams/bulldozers/the kitchen sink at you. Anything he
sends at you will have a Danger! signal, but most of them fly fast enough that
you'll only see it for a fraction of a second. It's better to look for
something flying your way and stay down instead (none of his kicked things can
be destroyed).

In every situation, I describe what I believe to be the fastest, and bare
minimum, way to finish each section. Delaying each section causes more soldiers
to appear (including yellows, if you're running low on ammo) and more attacks
from the computer. Considering I usually have good ammo up to this point
specifically because I save, I don't usually care for waiting.

(finally, start!) Fang will come in front of Dog and start plugging at you
right in your face. Fortunately, here his accuracy is that of a green. Drain
both his and Dog's lifebar to advance, though there will be at least one yellow
on the far right. Delays here will draw out another yellow plus reinforcements.

After they flee off-screen, Fang will come in from the left, all the way in the
back. He'll set up to kick a box at you, which would normally not be a problem
if it weren't for the two soldiers in front with riot shields. One grenade
could solve your screening issues, but I usually try to again go for the barely
exposed areas. If you let Fang go, he'll come back in from the right, in your
face and pistol blaring. Also watch for more reinforcements to appear (starting
with a blue-rocket aimed at 2p between two boxes on the right). Track him a
little bit and you'll send him running.

Just before Fang kicks off the box, Dog will phase in from the right and pop
off a rocket in your face. This, as you might imagine, will hit you. A
close-range shotgun blast by itself should chase off Dog right here -
otherwise, he'll spread his love (of death) between both players (not
necessarily rockets). Preferred weapon: machinegun.

You're not done yet (believe it or not, you have to drain both three times
before you even get a new timer). Fang will pop up again next to a box to the
right, aimed at 2p. If you don't drain him down completely, he'll just keep
going around, kicking things (like the bulldozer next to it). Incidentally, you
can empty his lifebar, but you can't make him run off until after the first box
is kicked away. In the meantime, there's a red that hops on a box next to the
one Fang just kicked pretty easy. Dog will jump up into a stack of boxes in the
middle-back of the screen (you'll see what I mean) and start firing at 2p.
Machinegun here is enough to take out both Fang and Dog before they get to pull
off their first attacks. Like Fang, you can empty Dog's lifebar, but he won't
run off until he takes a hit after he lands.

A1-09. [boss] "Hide-and-seek." Preferred weapon: shotgun. The next few sections
will have you playing a timing game with the both of them. The pattern is that
usually, Fang will be out and go after one player, then Dog will try to
surprise another with a in-the-face shot.

Here, Fang starts off by going for 2p with kicks. One shotgun blast is normally
enough to stop him - expect the occasional fluke shot and plug two to be safe.
Expect a sudden appearance from Dog on the left with a fast, hitting bullet.
After that, they're blanks, so go ahead and shotgun him too (if you haven't
already).

A1-10. [boss] Same principle, except Dog goes for 2p with his machinegun and 1p
with his pistol. Again, one shotgun shell should be enough.

A1-11. [boss] Dog starts off things right away with a flamethrower to both
sides. You can play a game of chicken with the flamethrower, but as I tend to
be pretty conservative, I don't. As soon as he stops, he runs off left. A
half-second later, he'll run back out to the right (and off-screen again) and
fire a rocket that will hit both players. He'll lean back in left and start
firing at 2p, which is when I usually take care of him with two shotgun shells.
Fang will drop in out from nowhere (his first shot falling always hits 2p) and
start firing at 2p - shotgun again.

A1-12. [boss] To your right, Fang is oppressing 2p with kicks again. Dog's
surprise comes out to 2p also - they're both centered around the box on the
right.

A1-13. [boss] After that needless display of power, Fang starts in on you.
Dog's surprise appearance here isn't much of a surprise, now that you're kinda
used to the whole thing - but he does show up in the back, meaning that a
shotgun shell may not be as effective as it used to. Oh well - just fire twice
and move on.

A1-14. [boss] Fang again starts in on you, but Dog will not rush up and
surprise you on this one. Instead, he'll appear on either side of the green box
directly in front of you and take shots at either player. Due to his obscurity,
again two shells will probably be necessary to eliminate Fang.

A1-15. "Reprieve." Regular soldiers only here - a green in your face, and
another falls in to go after 2p behind him. After that, a yellow comes into the
back between the two rows of boxes, followed by a green and a blue-rocket
(machinegun-shotgun-machinegun). Yet another green jumps in from nowhere at 2p
before you're done.

A1-16. [boss] Dog will start things off by firing in the open at 2p, which
means you've got free shots on him. Fang will kick up a box in the air, and
then at you. Again, you can clean his clock, but he won't actually leave until
you hit him after the box goes flying. If you leave Fang alive, his next box
will go at 2p.

A1-17. More soldiers. Two green, one yellow, one more green, next.

A1-18. [boss] No need for a display of such firepower. Fang concentrates on 2p
while Dog will send rockets your way. Both should be pretty easy to dispose of,
but at the same time, Dog's rockets can occasionally hit (you'll see the red
flare). Preferred weapon: still shotgun, but after here on it's machinegun.

A1-19. [boss] "Hide-and-seek 2." Dog will appear out of the right of the pile
of boxes smack in front of you, while Fang will appear from the left. Dog aims
for 2p, Fang for you - Fang can occasionally fire a lethal shot, but Dog will
definitely send at least one at 2p. They'll run left, and keep hiding behind
boxes and taking shots at you. Machinegun them away.

Panning right, you'll see the pair at it again, Dog on top of a stack of boxes
in the left, Fang near some beams at the right. Dog will focus fire on 2p to
begin, so he's easy for you. Too bad Fang's not very picky about who he hits
here - before he starts kicking, you should be able to take out Dog.

Fang will kick three - yes, that's three - beams at both players. You will,
naturally, be required to dodge all three of them while shooting him. If you're
not done yet, whoever's left will continue moving right - Dog unloading ammo,
Fang jumping and kicking things (bulldozer, tires, a box), etc.

A1-20a. [boss] "Fall of Fang." Some soldiers first to give you a bit of a break
- look for two green, one yellow to come running up from behind a bulldozer,
and a red. Once that's done, pan right to find more soldiers popping up pretty
slowly, and Fang's appearance on top of a distant stack of boxes. Notice he
can't be hurt until he attempts his next attack - a flying kick at your face.
And I do mean you, as long as you're 1p. You can hurt him in flight, but be
sure to duck.

He'll come around, behind a box, and then try another kick at 2p. Since you're
not in harm's way, go nuts. If that's still not enough, Fang will start with a
long line of boxes, kicking them at alternate people while receiving very
limited soldier support. Preferred weapon: machinegun.

Once his lifebar's done there, he'll jump and land pretty close in front of
you, letting loose with the pistol. He will aim a little better, but if you've
switched to shotgun in the meantime, you shouldn't give him too much
opportunity at all to fire before he convulses on the box he's standing on.

20b. [boss] "Toothless Dog." Dog will come charging out from the left, and
launch a rocket (that will hit) almost as soon as he appears. Follow him right
and he'll eventually hide behind a box and start returning fire from there. Not
before launching a couple more rockets while running.

Drain his bar entirely and he'll decide the best way to kill you is to
flamethrower the both of you while standing still. Again, I note the poor hit
detection with the flamethrower, but he only makes one pass and waits a second
or two between flames. You're quite free to dispose of him here as you wish.
Preferred weapon: two grenades before he even gets a chance to go.

S3-A2. The Inferno

You'll be seeing lots of red, and it's not just the background.

A2-01. The first impression you'll get is a yellow on the left and two green on
the right before things go boom. After you get to start, they've switched
positions. This part is pretty safe for 1p - the only significant threat is a
machinegunner that comes out of the flames in the back, but he's going for 2p.
Otherwise, look for green to step out from the sides. (thought: how would they
be conveniently walking through the holes in the wall if they weren't there
already...? wouldn't they have gotten blown up by the planted explosives?)

A2-02. "Blind death." This passage messes a lot of people up, for the pure
variety of ways to die here. You start with a riot-shield green in each
player's face - you can peg 2p's quite easily. What that masks is a group of
three green and one red, the red aimed at 2p.

Shared note: if you're interested in keeping 2p alive, make SURE he takes out
the riot-shield green in front of you as soon as the section begins. The red
here is in the background, lower middle, and combined with the explosion, hard
to see. Given the red flare blends in well as well, and 2p is going to need
some help provided he's not an expert himself. If you want to keep him alive,
just tell him to stay down - the red will roll away and never come back after
that one shot.

Spend a little time shooting it out, and you'll see two machinegunners cross
horizontally across the hallway. The one strafing right is going for you.
Afterwards, two reds will bust open the door in the back. And just when you
thought you had room to breathe, two ninja drop down and have a fairly fast
claw stab - that they'll repeat at least once more while in your face, so have
your speed trigger fingers ready. In the meantime, a yellow will run across the
doorway just opened up. Expect another pair of reds to step out from the new
hall holes before all the serious threats here are over.

A2-03a. You'll find yourself in a room surrounded, and it doesn't get any
prettier. The first targets you'll have are two green, one with a riot shield
(and an exposed right elbow). Pay attention right away - shortly after you
start, a red will step in from the right and take a really fast shot at you.
Not that you can't beat him to the shot, but you'll be hard-pressed to. Watch
for lots of soldiers to appear in pairs - yellow, machinegunner, and especially
red. The first pair of red you'll see will have the one aimed at 2p lying on a
table while the camera pans left - that's your cue to look right and/or dodge.
I'm missing a few soldiers in the process, including a lone machinegunner after
two yellow that fortunately doesn't aim for you.

[timer reset] 03b. The second pair will be as you're turning right - the 2p one
is an easier target, but the one going for you has a little bit of style. Two
machinegunners will be behind 2p's back - the one on the left poses a threat to
you, though a green will strangely stand in the way. The doors you see will be
broken down by two machinegunners. Turning left again, there will be two green
with riot shields. Both are actually somewhat covered from you, but it's not
like you can't hit them. A green and a yellow will come up from behind.

A2-04. "Broken egg." You'll start off with a pair of green soldiers and a
blue-grenade dropping into that little protective enclave. Dispatch the green
immediately. The blue-grenade will make a surprise attack from the upper-left
hand corner - less skilled players may be better off ducking and waiting for
the blue to travel right (and thus expose himself). Add another pair of green.
A machinegunner will appear in the same spot the blue-grenade came from and
apply pressure - you can shoot him down before the fact, and after I believe
he'll come right and try again.

A2-05a. This room is as long as heck, requiring more than a few accuracy shots.

You'll start with a machinegunner in your face. Careful - he does like to hit a
little more often than you may be used to. Insert red soldiers on the ground
level, all types on the balcony level, and a leaping ninja that swipes fairly
fast once he lands.

[timer reset] 05b. Your perspective will change up and right as more soldiers
come out. The machinegunner here is on 2p, but that doesn't give you much
reprieve, especially with a blue-hand axe popping up in your face a little of
the way through. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled on the balcony level.

[timer reset] 05c. Swinging left, you get more and more company. This time,
you're required to pay attention to the ground as well as the balcony. Notables
include a machinegunner that peeks out a shelf from the bookshelf - hard to hit
several times under pressure; a random red on the right as a machinegunner
comes in from the left; and a sneaky red in the lower-left corner just as you
dispatch other reds in the area.

[timer reset] 05d. Now you're facing above 2p. Three green will appear on the
balcony, followed by a pair (yellow-red, left-right). Looking down from there,
you'll see a red take a jumping shot at 2p, as well as a green running out.

[timer reset] 05e. "The Arena." As you face left and advance, you'll see a red
and a yellow shooting at you, with a green firing on 2p. The red will not shoot
red bullets for a little while, so take advantage. A right turn plants you and
2p facing a short area where enemies will drop for a few seconds. Other than a
red jumping in your face fairly early on, nothing in there should bother you.

2p here will have a red in the balcony above you take a fairly fast life off if
he's not careful.

Looking up, there will be three green guys.

Looking back down, the first thing you'll see is a flame, and then the
flamethrower guy behind him. The aggravating thing about this guy is that no
matter whether you're playing solo or link, he'll keep making passes nonstop at
you from behind a bookshelf. And I do mean there is no break - he starts with
it out, and keeps going. I once lost 25 seconds waiting for an opportunity to
take him out. Of course, I lost patience, stood up to kill him and got hit.
Preferred weapon here: grenade, or two shotgun shells - you should be able to
reasonably take him out before you get hit.

After a couple of seconds, a green and a machinegunner goes after 2p behind the
same bookshelf.

A2-06. "The Barrage." There are five soldiers here - two machinegunners and
three green. Unfortunately for you, the machinegunner trained on you is close.
Really close. Also unfortunately for you, all three green are paying attention
to you. Makes you think they actually know how to obey commands like
"concentrate fire", no? (changes for link, I believe - you have one less green
on you.)

Anyway, you can gamble with trying to return fire in that hail, or you can
pursue the strategy I like to do which is unload a shotgun on them when the
machinegunner needs a break. Otherwise, the machinegunners stay the same, but
the green switch people.

S3-A3. The Dictator.

Our final friend here is armed with something most soldiers aren't - accuracy.
His weapons will mostly be a sword and an autopistol. The autopistol tends to
come out in bursts of pure red, so paying attention is crucial. His sword
strikes occur in three varieties: a really fast vertical strike, a slightly
(but only little less so) slower horizontal strike, and his favorite: a slight
pause, then four consecutive slashes. If you wanna play chicken with him, he
will tend to favor the vertical slash the longer you stand into his patterns.
At the very end, he throws those away and opts for two tank-like rocket
launchers instead.

Why do all TC final bosses favor rocket launchers? :p

In case you're wondering what happens to all that ammo that gets stockpiled
since I usually don't recommend using any special weapons, here's where it all
comes down.

A3-01a. [boss] "From a distance." He'll start off firing a stream of bullets at
2p. Naturally, you have plenty of time to machinegun him down. If you don't,
he'll switch that stream at you instead. Once you cause him to retreat,
soldiers will come in - immediately, a machinegunner on each side, followed by
a couple of green and a yellow. Preferred weapon: machinegun.

[timer reset] 01b. [boss] He'll come in with gun blazing, but that seems to be
a fake blaze. This time, he'll alternate jumping between players and slashing.
Obviously, it's to your advantage to capitalize his non-attention. When he's
finished and retreats right, your first wave will be a surprise red from a box
on your lower right, as well as a riot-shield green on your left and a yellow
on top. When there's a lull in the action, be prepared to start the next phase.

[timer reset] 01c. [boss] The hardest of the three initial patterns by far.
He'll enter stage right with five red bullets at you. His pattern will then be
as follows: unload a short burst of red on 2p. Jump up at you, and slash almost
immediately on arrival. Turn and fire more red at 2p. Jump back, and repeat as
he changes players. This pattern gives you very little time to shoot in
between, but you can still finish him here pretty fast.

A3-02. [boss] "Up and down."

[Reader] Credit goes to Alex Mak for pointing out that I completely neglected
to mention this particular section of the battle.

The boss jumps up on the bridge and is immediately accompanied by two
machinegunners, one from each side. (Why does that feel like a certain area
battle in TCII?) Your attention shifts back down to the boss in the middle, and
two yellow on your right. You should be able to nab some ammo from them, though
realistically all six icons may be tough, since the boss starts shooting at you
pretty quickly and doesn't like missing all that often. 2p will probably clean
up whatever you miss here and ideally should help you with the boss... or not.

Remember when I mentioned that the boss' sword attacks may change depending on
your timing? This is where it's very evident. When he's done shooting, the
first thing he'll do is fly (literally) at you and drop one quick vertical
slice on you.

From there, he'll follow this pattern: sword tech on 1p, short burst of red at
2p. The sword tech picked depends on the boldness of 1p. If you stay down the
whole time and don't dare to challenge him, he'll use his four-slash combo.
(This, of course, allows your partner much time to inflict pain.) If you stay
up and unload even afterhe puts his gun away after shooting at 2p, you get the
quick vertical slash. A little more chickenish will get you the horizontal
slash.

What's best? If linked, obviously you'll want to unload while he's unloading on
2p, and then stay down and encourage the four-slash combo to let 2p unload. As
a solo player, your best time will come from drawing out the vertical slash -
minimizes the downtime you have. Preferred weapon: logically shotgun, though I
still stubbornly use machinegun.

A3-03a. [boss] Why is there always a tech center at the end of every TC also?</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
:p To start you off, a ninja will have jumped in your face and is just about to
slash. Some more soldiers will come in from the left. The boss himself will
enter soon enough and get in your face. He'll generally slash at you and fire
at 2p, repeatedly. Preferred weapon here: shotgun, since a significant portion
of enemies will appear close to you.

[timer reset] 03b. [boss] Pushing him off once here results in more soldiers
for you to deal with, including more ninja and hordes of yellow, not to mention
two machinegunners from the left who tend to hit more frequently than one might
like. The initial boss attack pattern here will be to hover over you for about
two or three sword attacks, then fall back and continue to shoot at you (though
this stream has only decent accuracy). If you don't pop him off there, he'll
continue to run around and generally make a mess of things with his sword while
encouraging reinforcements. Still shotgun.

[timer reset] 02c. [boss] This time is a little less pretty. Again, soldiers
(though fewer), and the boss will literally stay in your face. Wait for him to
either turn his attention to 2p or back off (at which point he fires at 2p). I
prefer not to deal with this part and smack him with a grenade, but your call.

A3-04. "Ascension." You're facing up a stairway, and as you can imagine, that
perspective gives you some unfair disadvantages. Right off the bat, two green
on the stairway will give way to a machinegunner bearing down from upstairs,
while a red comes out for 2p. Another red will step from the right to hit you
almost immediately after the machinegunner appears. After that, a couple more
green and you're on your way. Shotgun yet again.

A3-05. "Ascension 2." This perspective is even worse, as the computer loves to
hammer you from the lower-left portion of the walkway you're facing. Yes, the
rails will absorb your bullets, so you need to hit all targets between the
lines. There will be at least two red and one machinegunner coming from the
lower left, all of whom like to hit you early and fast. Off to your right,
you'll see that 2p is getting his fair share of punishment too, but you'll most
likely not be able to do much until you're cleaned up. One last yellow here for
machine gun ammo. Your judgment call here on what gun to use, but I tend to do
worse here when I'm using a machinegun.

If you have the chance to observe someone playing here, pay close attention to
the rail to the far left of the screen. There are a couple of openings that all
soldiers from the left will run through *before* they begin shooting at you.
Plug that hole with fire and the section difficulty decreases dramatically.

A3-06. You'll be gradually shifting left, but whip out your machinegun and hose
down anything you see. That's generally the safest strategy. One thing you'll
want to be careful of is a green with a riot shield sitting on the passageway -
right behind him is a blue-flamethrower. Otherwise, two ninja running at you,
green and red from behind... they won't be much of anything to an attentive
stream of fire.

A3-07a. "The Bridge." You'll be firing on distant targets here that are
partially obscured by boxes for the entire duration of this area - hence, I
usually prefer machinegun, but do as you see fit. What you want to pay
attention to is for a yellow to come running in from outside (middle back)
while a ninja jumps in from the lower right at the same time. Later on, you'll
also see a yellow, a green, and a blue-rocket - look for a red to step out and
take a quick shot as well. Otherwise, keep your eyes open and plug anything
that moves.

[timer reset] 07b. If you're playing solo here, you'll get about six more guys
from the same set of boxes, all nothing to worry much about.

If you're playing link, you'll turn around and start shooting more distant
targets here. There will be another two yellow or so, plus one red that could
get on your nerves (and into your lives) if you're not expecting anything. If
your partner is present, you're assisting (and taking virtually no fire). If
not, then they're naturally gunning for
you.

A3-08. [boss] "Nikolai would've cried." Two Tesla tanks and the boss appear to
start, but the boss kinda leaves off-screen immediately to leave you with the
tanks. Their only attack is the arc of electricity they shoot around - but they
can register a hit on you as soon as the bolt's glow of blue on the ground
would be at you. Combined with the strange appearance of two Teslas shooting
together to disrupt your ability to predict, and they can get annoying.

A few seconds later, the boss will come back. He'll rush at you, unload a few
slashes, then turn his attention to 2p. You can drain his lifebar here, but
it's not absolutely necessary - all it does is remove him from the action until
the third tank comes out. If you don't finish up both tanks or him at that
point, he'll come back right-to-left and unload a continuous stream of red that
starts on 2p, and switches to you once he's halfway across. After that, he'll
come and lay the sword on you - effectively screening you while occasionally
pausing to fire at 2p. At all times, your focus can be more on the tanks, and
probably should be.

Once those two go down, a third Tesla will make its way from the left, with the
boss riding on it. It won't start firing until it's parked on the far right,
which gives you plenty of time to shoot it down. If you don't, expect more
general boss harassment while the tank fires. Player 2 has it worse here
(again) - the tank's gun, if you want to call it that, must be only a couple of
feet from his nose.

A3-09a. [boss] "The end." If you made it this far, don't slack off now.

The boss and two machinegunners will appear on the bridge you jumped down from
before. Now, the boss is decked out with two pretty fast rocket launchers.
Watch for everybody to be able to hit you at least once in their streams. The
boss' soldier accompaniments will be two machinegunners, two reds (or green?),
and then another two machinegunners. Eliminate the soldiers, as they do pose a
threat, but your more immediate concern is bringing the boss' lifebar down to
at least half.

[timer reset] 09b. He'll jump down and start with another weak way to go - this
time, he'll shoot a series of four red rockets to one player, and alternate
with a short break in-between. That's it. 2p has it worse here - he's a lot
closer and consequently has less time to react to the initial rocket.
Otherwise, dispatch him at your leisure - and good thing too, since you'll most
likely have used up quite a bit of ammo at this point.

If you're reasonably good and actually internalized this document,
congratulations. You've just beaten Time Crisis III with probably one or two
lives left, no continues. :p Of course, who am I to say? That's usually how I
turn out with all these things in mind, so why not you too?

V. Afterword

This document was created almost completely during downtime burning DVD-Rs. To
wit, it's taken nearly a full 24 hours of labor to complete, including three
"research" trips to the local arcade, but the first draft was finally done.
Supplemental information was accumulated as people kept bugging me to play the
game. :p

I'm expecting an onslaught of corrections - a level of decency will ensure your
thoughts are appropriately considered and not pre-determined for /dev/null.
Send all thoughts to [email protected] with the words "Time Crisis III"
or "TCIII" in the subject header to make sure you get my attention.

If you actually read all the way down here, pat yourself on the back and go
grab something cold to drink/something to munch on.

Best w/partner - me and Kambran, 2.86mil, both with stars (no continues).
Personal accuracy: 75%. Time: 24:13.
Best solo - 1.98mil, with star. Accuracy: 78%. Time: 26:50. (outdated)

There's people with better results out there, incidentally - if you must use
this, treat it as a kind of benchmark for telling yourself that you really need
to stop playing this game. :p

VI. Credits

- Namco for turning out tons of great gun games. Point Blank was my training
grounds, Time Crisis' dodge innovation made things so much easier on my hands

- Jochoki and Quannie G for being my playing partners

- Kix, LeShadowElf, and AnChi for moral (and occasional financial) support

- my local arcade (Sports Plus, New York) constituents for leaving me so many
free games
on TCIII and DDR :p

- Alex Mak for the S3-A2 correction

- Aks for the Osprey info

- CJayC and the gamefaqs.com community for all the other game help I needed

VII. Version History

0.1 (4/28/03) - initial development. Accomplished up to S2-A1, with lots of
holes.

0.15 (4/30/03) - after some "research", made small revisions and finished up to
S3-A1.

0.2 (5/1/03) - more "research", completed initial draft.

[0.2a] - a re-submission that was part of a (misguided) effort to fix things up
on GameFAQs. Virtually identical to 0.2.

0.3 (5/30/03) - revisions
as listed above, plus lots of typo/misinformation correction. I have a couple
of contributions to include, but since I haven't used their thoughts yet, I'll
save it for the next update.

0.3f (1/28/04) - final
as mentioned, final version. no further intent to update or maintain document
unless otherwise necessary.

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.endangeredsoft.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.