BANGAI-O LEVEL FAQ [2002-08-05]
Kirk Israel <
[email protected]>
--INTRO--
Bangai-O! What a great game! The level exploration and enemy generators
of Gauntlet combined with the action of Smash TV, all in a veneer of
Metroid with a touch of the control of Joust...sounds like a mess but
it's brilliant. A 2D game where level design really really matters,
that throws hoards and hoards of enemies at you and gives you the
hardware you need to take it all on...plus, a huge heap of Japanese
weirdness.
Looks like a big favorite of CJayC's as well...I hope that this
FAQ, the first to cover *all* 44 levels, will come in useful to
people who would others struggle with this game.
--GENERAL HINTS--
* Everyone, including the manual, agrees: ABXY is the only control
scheme worth using. You're going to need the full control of firing
in any direction while moving in any other direction. Don't know why
it's not the default, or why they bother with the other option at all.
* Scatterbombing technique (with the right trigger) is what separates
the men from the boys in this game. The 44 levels are going to be
a true grind unless you learn to use the scatterbomb for both offense
and defense. You can spend 2 minutes laboriously picking off bots
and their generators from behind cover, or you can run in, charge
'er up, and let it fly in about 10 seconds.
* The key to good scattershotting is waiting for the right moment.
My first time through, I would scattershot as soon as I thought
to do it. Eventually I learned that he who hesitates is launched...
if you press and hold R until a big flock of bullets is just about
to hit you, you'll do a lot more damage, and go a lot further towards
recharging the scatterbomb energy. It's worth taking some risks
for, even taking a bullet, since there's a good chance you can
generate a health to make up for it. (Multiple explosions bring
better fruit as well as health)
* You've got to learn when it's worth clearing out a region, and
when you should just zoom on by. You can loose a lot of health
one hit at a time, especially when the enemies aren't quite
clustered enough to make good use of your scatterbombs...it's easy
to run out of scatterbombs, and that means you're in a much worse
off defensive position.
* If you're firing to the left and an enemy comes sneaking up to the
right, that might be a good time to scatterbomb.
* Listen to the sound effects! In particular:
-the beeping when you're out of scatterbombs, and the little whistle
when you earn a new one (took me a while to figure out what that sound
was.)
-if you do a good scatterbomb and you hear a distinct metallic clang,
start looking for the Energy powerup you just earned yourself.
-if your character cries out like you got hit, that might be a
good time to scatterbomb, since more bullets are probably on their way.
-the music shift when your V-powerup energy ends is sometimes
the most obvious clue that your invulnerability has worn off
* 3 hamsters in the initials screens will open up a second options
menu, (back up out of the game once it starts) to go turn on things
like invulnerability. My history was, I used this cheat for
the final 5 levels my first time through...but then I was able
to take it all on, by leaning how to scatterbomb, and realizing
I didn't have to clear out every region.
* Random trivia: the "I must be dreaming" reincarnation screen
was even stranger in the Japanese version of this game. Do a
Google search for Bangai-O screenshots. Suffice it to say, I think
what looks like KKK garb to an American doesn't have the same
cultural ramifications in Japan...at least I hope not.
--THE LEVELS--
1. THE PLANET DAN STAR
Appropriately enough, the first level is a bit of a cakewalk. Wide open
spaces, not many bad guys. In fact, the only generators generate health
powerups...as you get to the harder levels, you'll be hard pressed to
find generators that make anything except bad guys out for blood. Take
your time, blow up some buildings, pick up some fruit, take out the robots
that harass you. When you've had enough of that, head to the door on
the right side of the screen, about halfway up.
You'll fight Sabu. Like the rest of the level, he should be a piece of cake.
Since it's a big wide open area, stick with the homing missiles.
HINT: You might want to start experimenting with the right trigger smart
bomb attack. Try holding off firing that until you're just about to be hit.
If you time it right, you'll launch many more weapons. In fact, one really
big scatterbomb attack is all you need to take this guy out!
If you do start to get damaged, near the top of where you fight him
there is a generator producing yellow (full) health powerups.
2. CYBER COMMAND CENTER
Here's where you need to learn Mami's weapon. The only safe way of
clearing out the lasergates in the narrow corridors is to use her ricochet
laser, aiming diagonally up or down in the direction you want to go.
If you're in a hurry, you can even try her scatterbomb...especially useful
in the second set of corridors where you're heading down.
HINT: if you're running low on scatterbombs, fire into the blue/yellow
lasers before taking out the gun itself. You can recharge up to a full
5 before moving on. In a pinch with no lasers or enemies, sometimes you
can spend some time destroying houses before moving to the next section.
The path to the boss is straightforward, and he's not much tougher than
he was last time. If you've been using ricochet lasers you might want to
switch back to the homing missiles.
3. MOON BASE ALPHA
This level introduces the concept of enemy generators. Most are the
"weak" variety that can be taken out without too many hits. Other than
that, there's not too much to this level. Sabu is again waiting for
you on the right. He's a little tougher than before, but if you use
an offensive/defensive stream of homing missiles and the occasional
scatterbomb he should present little real challenge.
4. THE SPACE CEMETARY
A new type of level design. Mami's ricochet laser might be the best
bet for these narrow corridors. You might want to practice blasting
your scatterbomb into a group of crates, letting you get the more
valuable Apples rather than typical Oranges...but be careful not
to drain your scatterbomb reserve too much, since you might need it
for defense later on.
You might notice that right before the boss room there's a path (blocked
by some of those small blocks) that can take you to the tree-lined path
that surrounds the main areas. You can take this if you want, but as far
as I can tell there's no compelling reason to.
The battle with Sabu...well, it's getting a little tougher, and there are
some extra enemies in that final room. (Along with some health). You might
want to take out the missile launchers before "activating" Sabu, and
possibly the houses as well, since they might attract your homing missiles.
HINT: When many bosses are going to launch their own scattershot, you'll
see a shockwave fly out proceeding the actual missiles. That might be a
good time to start charging your own scatterbomb, waiting until the wall
of bullets gets close (but not *too* close) before launching your
devastating counterattack. When all else fails, run (possibly using the
doubletap dash) firing behind you to shoot down any homing missiles on
your trail.
5. MILKY WAY STATION
"Oh man, life is bitter!"
The first room is one your first good non-boss battles. Use your scatterbomb
to good effect. Notice that it often won't take out the generators, so you'll
have to give them some special attention.
The second room is much like the first.
Then you meet your first core boss...a green ball that just sits there and
takes it. In enclosed areas, Mami's scatterbomb can work wonders at speeding
the process along, and often doing one shot will be enough to power up the
next. Good deal!
6. BASE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
So here at the infostation you learn about red and blue doors. There
are little loops on the right side, top and bottom, to give you the idea
of the red doors (I don't think you can get trapped.) The blue doors are
opened by destroying the generator sitting on them.
In the bossroom, you'll probably want to clear out the missile launchers
before activating the boss...also the houses, since they can easily distract
your homing missiles from their main mission, that being kicking boss butt.
This is a new type of vehicle boss. Shouldn't be too challenging, since it
and its weapons are so slow.
7. MOON BASE BETA
Here you get introduced to blue and green crystal barriers. Blue barriers
block the ricochet laser...I guess the designers wanted to be able to
create situations where Mami can't just fire a ton of shots to clear
the path. Green barriers stop all of Bangai-O's weapons. Both barrier types
are invisible to enemy shots (though the enemies themselves can't pass
through them) so you have to be careful.
HINT: If you're in a thin corridor with a lot of green (or blue) blocks
that are letting enemy bullets through, you might want to use a ricochet
scatterbomb in a defensive kind of way, creating a small path for you to
get the heck out of there.
This is one of the first difficult levels you have to pick your way
through. Because of all the blue barriers, you'll probably want to stick
through homing missiles for most of it. Move conservatively, clearing
one little room at a time, and looking for opportunities to take out
missile launchers that are on the other side of the blue crystals.
There are some blue health cubes lurking near the mid bottom right
of the first area, behind what looks like chainlink fence.
Make your way to the right side of the first area. There you'll see the
next space, blocked off by some big bombs (they're big, but not that
explosive.) Fire missiles through the top or bottom to set off the bombs.
There's a full health powerup on the bottom...you may well need it by
this point.
There's a big green wall to the right...the only way to get past is
to blow up bombs that are falling from the generator above, so don't
be too quick to destroy it.
Despite what the boss says, killing it will indeed help you reach your
target. His health regenerates, but still he should be trivial to finish
off, especially with some laser scatterbomb in that narrow little space.
8. THE HOLLOW ASTEROID
So here you further the technique of shooting orange bombs to remove otherwise
unbreakable blocks. Proceed carefully section by section.
This is probably my favorite boss conversation...so odd!
As always, you may want to clear out the boss area before talking to her.
Also, there's a pile of blue healths to the right.
Her laser beams can really do damage if you're not careful! On the other
hand, they can make it pretty easy to launch 400-MAX scatterbombs, and a
few of those missile deathblossoms will lead to her timely demise.
9. THE EXPLOSION STORE
There are two ways to handle this level. You can go through and
systematically search-and-destroy. I think that's a good way to get killed.
You can just dash to the boss as well...you'll activate a few robots,
but this boss is a bit of a push over for your missiles and scatterbombs.
I don't know what the infostation lady means by "green boxes". Could
she be talking about the (yellow box) "V" invulnerability powerups?
(I think of them as "Vornados", I think that's a brand of fan...seems
appropriate given the power and circular form of this weapon!)
Oh, I guess the actual powerup is green...still, I'm usually looking
for the boxes.
Anyway, there's a Vornado powerup at the top right, but you don't
need it, unless you're going for a highschore.
10. THE BOMB MAZE
Use the laser to clear out the bombs from a distance...especially from
the innocent looking yellow ones, which go up with a really big bang
that can do you a lot of damage.
Here you'll meet up with a big blue wobbly disk for the first time.
They aren't too too dangerous...pump them up with weaponfire and they'll
explode in a slow shower of straightmoving bullets. They can
be useful to powerup your scatterbombs... the bullets they send out
also seem to damage other enemies, but it's not that useful as an
offensive weapon.
As the level proceeds, definitely keep an eye out for those yellow
bombs, they have a great big range. The further you are when they go
off, the better. Also, learn to use the scatterbomb laser in
that defensive/offensive combo as you clear out robot generators.
11. DESERT OUTPOST
The laser is a good weapon here, though there are some blue crystal
cages, so you want to have the homing missiles handy.
As you go through the level, you may run into your first flamethrower.
They're kind of interesting, not too hard to destroy usually, but they
can do a lot of damage.
HINT: I think the flame must count as a TON of little bullets, because
some of my biggest most-fruit-producing explosions have been in the
wake of an exploding rotating flame thrower.
Be a little careful with your scatterbombs, it's easy to run out.
Also in this area you'll run into a favorite trick of this game,
unbreakable bricks balanced on bombs. And you may also find out
that it is perfectly possible to be trapped by these blocks, forcing
you to restart the level. Luckily there's not too much of that
There is a trick to this section, and if you do it wrong you
may have to start over....before going all the way to the
bottom left corridor, make sure all the bombs in the center
sections have been destroyed. If you make that BIG bunch of
unbreakable bombs fall (the one with the two blue health boxes
on top) before being able to destroy the wall to its left, (the
wall to the right of that blue crystal cage) you're stuck. Of
course, the area you need to clear out before heading to the
bottom left is very well fortified with lots of missile launchers.
Eventually, after going through the levels of maze on the left,
you should be able to go through the top right. Here you'll clear
out many bomblines in a row with your homing missile as the trigger.
There's a lot of enemy firepower here, so be careful.
12. THE GUN STAR
I don't have a lot to say about this level...in fact I don't
even get the Gun Star reference (though I know gunstar heroes
was a previous Treasure game, and I have played it a little bit.)
Again, you can try to take out everything, or just go ahead to
the top right corner, down the right side, to where the boss
awaits. (You might want to clear out that area a bit though.)
There's a full health powerup above.
One trick is that there's a ledge where the full health appeared...
it's pretty easy to get the boss stuck on the opposite side, and
then scatterbomb your way to victory with the missiles.
13. RACING THE FUSES
Ooh, this one is pretty ugly, especially if you haven't got
the knack of double tapping to speed, and busting through
hoards of enemies without getting yourself killed.
You have to beat some bomblines or you'll get stuck.
Navigating the upper passage is really a matter of mastering
move-and-fire. Ignore everything, use the laser scatterbomb
when enemy bullets threaten. You'll notice the floor of
the passage has some bomblines to set off. The only ones
that are really important are the ones that are "more exposed"...
they bombs climb up the left side of the various chambers.
Make sure you get these or else you'll be stuck on the trip
to the left in the bottom hallway.
Once you've made it past the red door on the right you'll
be in the bottom passage...be very careful with the bombline
on the floor! You want to clear the path to the left
before setting it off, since otherwise you might not beat
it back to the left side of screen. (So be careful with
the ricocheting lasers!) Don't go through the second red
door yet, but you may want to try to fire into that chamber.
Then go back to the bottom right, start the bombline, and
speed back to the left. Don't get caught up in the fighting
here! You'll pass through several falling block walls,
and you'll have to destroy the enemies sitting on the blue
doors before they'll open. You're finally back to near
where you started...wait for the bombs to clear the passage,
then scoot through before the unbreakable blocks seal
you from the boss.
14. THE NEBULA FORTRESS
Be careful of the flamethowers right beneath where you start out.
Again, there are two ways to handle this level: slowly advance,
clearing out section by slow section, or zip all the way around
the central section, back up the middle where the boss is. If you
stay in that central corridor (where the flamethrowers were
at the outset) and fire down, you should be able to take out
this bozo without too much hassle. Make wise use of scatterbomb,
waiting til it's about to hit you before letting fly with
the laser beam...it's pretty easy to get some 400-MAX
(with energy ups to boot!)
15. LUNAR ECLIPSE
This level is pretty easy, because the vehicle boss is so slow.
The wobblies can make for some pretty explosions, so you might not
want to fire too much unless you see your target, but this
level shouldn't be much of a challenge.
16 THINK FIRST, SHOOT LATER
Despite the ominous warning of the title, there are fewer
ways of getting trapped on this board than on many of the
others. A typical corridor crawl.
HINT: From hard-won experience, I can say that the safest
thing to do when caught under falling multiple columns of
unbreakable blocks is to fly as high as you can...that way,
most of the neighboring columns will fall, while the one
you're under will stay up, allowing you to slip off to the
side.
17. PERIMETER LASERS
If you've mastered the laser scatterbomb, neither of the
sides should present much of a problem. Pick a side,
fight your way down, enter the center laser hallway,
and take out all the lasers from behind, making sure
you hit all of the laser emplacements. (If you find
yourself in the middle and see you've missed one
but don't want to fly all the way around, a laser
scatterbomb might clear out the straggler.) Then do
the same on the other side. Go back to the top,
down the middle, laser scatterbomb the emplacements
in the middle, and call it day.
18. THE LASER DROME
Heh. This board reminds me of Crocodile Dundee
"He's got a knife!" "That's not a knife...*this* is a knife"
Thank of that, but substitute "array of deadly laserbeams"
for "knife".
There's a yellow full health on the lower right side of the
screen, near where the boss is.
The Ultraman looking guy is pretty easy. I've gotten him
stuck in corners before, where I could fire endless missiles
into him and he just stood there and took it. Actually,
even a steady stream of lasers will prevent him from
mounting an effective attack...so just catch him in
that starting corridor, fire away...his shots will travel
safely above and below you, and the occasional fleet
of miniships will launch away from you and not have
room to turn and get you.
19. NON-STOP DESTRUCTION
Heh. Now this is an interesting level.
Once you shoot your way out of your starting circle,
grab the Vornado power up.
Now you have two options. Clear everything out,
or head straight for the boss. I'd do the latter.
He's right below you.
You are very indestructible with your shield going.
So make sure to fully clear out the path of gun emplacements
and bots on your way down, since you don't want them
interfering during the boss fight. (Oh, and by the way...
the enemy is invulnerable whenever you are, so don't
get any funny ideas.)
This guy (who is a bit similar to the final boss
you'll face) has two attacks. His regular laser beam
is pretty powerful, but as long as it's not quite
hitting you, it's an easy way to get massive scatterbomb
upgrades-- in the 300s easy. I had much better luck
with the laser than the homing missiles when it came
to launch scatterbomb after scatterbomb...also to help
drill a bit more maneuvering room. The trick
is he often likes to launch two waves of seeking missiles
in a row... you need to make sure you're not close
enough to him (and you have enough spare scatterbombs)
to launch a second counterstrike if need be.
Another trick is to stick and move...fire, and then
get your distance!
20. BURNING HEAVEN
In the first section, there's something you *must* do
unless you're a serious masochist...go to the top of the
first main chamber, and take out the two fire-in-all-direction
pods that are right above you. They're hiding behind green
crystal, and will be the death of you when you try to finish
the level, unless you kill them now, from their unprotected
underbellies.
Now, you have a decision: left or right? Left has a lot more
bots. Right has more corridors, with gun emplacements and
some falling bricks. (If you go for the bots, be sure not
to run out of scatter bombs!)
You know, I used to assume the right was easier, but as
long as you fly fast through rather than destroy every
dang bot, the left passage is pretty straightforward.
(Or maybe I've just gotten a lot better at using
scatterbombs)
There are some bomb walls hiding health powerups you can
get, if you clear them out through the blue crystal up above.
21. THE CAGE
Small bunch of bots behind the green crystal. Can't attack 'em,
just have to avoid them (use your laser scatterbomb for defense
if need be.) You need to clear out the generators, blue wall,
and bombline on the right, and then on the left. There are
blue health powerups in the lower right and left corners
You probably want to take the time to kill all the gun emplacements
you can, since you're going to have to do a lot of dodging and ducking
for this boss fight. (and some of those gun emplacements are actually
gun generators...)
Actually, I spoke to soon...there is a way to break the cage!
There's a bomb generator on the upper left side. You'll probably
need to take out the gun generator there, so the bombs can drop
all the way to the bottom of the cage. Once they do, blow up
the bomb, and then you should be able to take out those pesky
bots.
From there, the boss shouldn't be a big deal. Play cat and
mouse with it, maybe try letting it slowly chase you around the
flat obstacle near the top of the screen, using scatterbombs
to kill it from behind, when you get a clear shot.
22. THE ROBOT FACTORY
Mr. Robot and his Robot factory--that was a good game, back in
the day, and had a construction set...but I digress.
Anyway, this is a fairly straight forward destroy everything
that moves. I'm not sure what finally opens the blue door...
you don't quite have to destroy everything, but it stays
shut for a good long while. Be careful not to run out of scatterbombs...
You're halfway done! Admittedly, the easier half, but still!
23. IT'S RAINING ROBOTS!
Heh. This is a really amusing level. Makes me think this
game could really use a construction set.
You're best bet is to just move up the middle of the
droppers, and let loose with scatterbomb after scatterbomb.
Don't worry about getting every last badguy, just most.
Before you do that you may want to clear out the houses
on the border of the main arena...otherwise they may attract
homing missiles when you least expect it.
When you're clearing out the rows be sure to pick up
energies as they appear.
Homing missiles are probably the best bet for the boss.
24. THE ROBOT MAZE
Be careful. Make sure you save scatterbombs for defense,
otherwise you might find yourself facing more enemy shots
that you can handle, coming at you in a row. Try to shoot
robot around corners with the laser, rather than facing
a big row head on, simply because they might be able
to overwhelm your normal gun.
Watch out for the blue crystal walls on the right, use
your missiles.
For the green crystal room on the left, try to see
how much of it you can take out with the laser.
25. SHADOW BATTLE
A lot of people think this one is tough, but I don't think
it's so bad. I'd avoid taking on the huge armadas on
the walls, and just fly straight up to meet your evil
twin. (this level is huuuuuge, so if you're careful
you should be able to avoid the walls...and even if a
few bots get activated, it's no big deal.
The trick with this guy is to KEEP MOVING. Never let
him near you. Use double tap dash to stay the heck
away, and fire behind you to catch the stray bullets.
Use missiles and scatterbomb as appropriate. The thing
is, given his ability to produce two waves of his
bomb (just like the guy on board 19) and the way
you stop for a moment when you release your scatterbomb,
it's better to use speed and the vast amount of space
you have to outrun the seekers until they disappear
on their own.
26. THE VICE
This is a cakewalk. The falling objects really don't
change this from being a typical one on one duel.
His big weapon is non-homing, non-reflecting scatterbomb.
It's really easy to wait for the wave to almost hit you,
and then launch a monster 400 scatterbomb to take him out.
I have had the boss get stuck under a block, making the level
unfinishable...
27. THE MAZE OF MANY DANGERS
You can take many different paths on this one. I like heading
over across the top, grab the V powerup, kick some tail, and
head to the boss in the lower right corner. You can take
out all his guard gun emplacements with carefully cornered
laser shots.
Sometimes you have to be clever and not kill gun emplacements
until they destroy things that you can't thanks to green crystal.
Watch out for falling unbreakable blocks
28. GALACTIC DUEL
This level can be tricky or easy. The easy way:
gun straight down to the floor on the far right
side. Shoot each layer of floor taking out the houses
sitting on it. (Use homing missiles, too much ricochet
will take its toll on the round bricks that make up
the ceiling of this passage way) Walk all the
way to the left, killing everything. Kill
generators in the central section from below by
blowing through those round bricks.
Do the same thing, but this time above the main corridor,
again starting from the right. You want to keep
things smooth and orderly, walking on the bricks instead
of flying for the most part, avoiding having to use
your scatterbomb which may let even more enemy bots
in to play. Make sure to kill the generators and emplacements
in the central corridor.
The fight with the boss should be nothing special.
His weapon is only so-so. But what are those noises
he's making? Forbidden love indeed!
29. ROBOT HUNT
Despite what the subtitle might have you think, you don't
have to kill every robot out there. Just enough to open
the blue doors. Once they're open, destroy the bomblines
on all four sides of the central structure, and finally
go back to the top and enter.
Again, my third time through the whole game, I had a
really easy time with this level. I just kind of zip
on through, playing just enough scatterbomb defense
to get by...
30. FRUIT SALE
Another exercise in using your right trigger!
Remember to wait til you're surrounded by bullets,
and then...whammo! (You might have to hang around
the gun emplacements, the bots will probably not
be firing enough to get the full deathblossoms)
There's no good reason not to destroy everything
the place. Then, check all 4 walls to make sure
all the bombsets are destroyed. Enter the passage
at the bottom right, go all the way around, and
take out the boss.
Is it just me, or am I seeing tunafish spinning
away in the debris on this level?
31. RUN THE GAUNTLET
It took me a long time to decide if I could get
away with really running the gauntlet, or if
I needed to clear it out room by room. In the
final analysis, I decided a dash was a lot more fun.
Even though the walls are blue crystals sometimes,
I tend to stick with the laser, since I'm more
worried about what's in my immediate path than
the bots taking potshots at me from outside.
There are two detours I suggest making...one is with
the second set of laser gates, the ones in a
vertical tower. You should duck over to the right
side and take these out from behind...don't stick around
too long, because robots will be taking potshots from
behind, but long enough to grab the two blue health
at the top. Make your way up and to the right.
Be careful not to get trapped in the blockpile
that falls.
Here's the clever bit...shot through the green bricks
at the top left of the path. Go to the left and
down...there's a V powerup here! Grab it, and then
get back on the main course to make a mad dash to the
boss before your vornado power runs out.
Stop right after you get through the red door, and
use your missiles to take out all the gun emplacements
generators and misc. bots surrounding the boss' room.
This is very important. You might also want to get
rid of the giant blue wobblies so they don't get
in your way.
The boss is easy, just stay out of his slow way
and use the missiles.
32. BURIED ALIVE
This level can be a challenge...in particular, it's very easy
to get stuck under a blockpile. My hardwon strategy is to
always fly up as much you can, letting the columns of blocks
to either side of you fall, and then move from side to
side as appropriate, always trying to move to higher ground.
Once you burst your way to the top, the boss shouldn't be too
tough. I'd suggest use your homing missiles, and once a fighting
area is cleared out, stay near the ceiling, since otherwise
your homing missiles may all be sucked into the huge piles of
blocks that still remain.
33. FAMILY DUEL
"Just roll with it" suggests the subtitle, and that's pretty good
advice. This guy looks straight out of Smash TV, come to think of it,
which is fitting given the rest of the dynamic of this game!
So this guy is invulnerable with his shield up. He'll bounce around
a bit. Assuming you're using homing missiles, you'll want to clear
a space to play in, and stay away from the edges less they attract
your missiles away from their intended target. Fly around, predict
when he's gonna slowdown and drop his shields to fire at you,
scatterbomb just before than, and you should be fine. Actually,
it's easy to get huge scatterbombs against his shield, which can
produce health powerups if you need it.
34. DANGEROUS DESCENT
This one is kind of fun. Dive into it! I wouldn't try to play
search and destroy. Occasionally, destructible metal beams will
block your path and slow you down. Be careful, though, because
you can die in a big hurry.
Once you get to the part with the flamethrowers, you need to
start fighting for real. After that little room, take either
side down to the next door (destroying bomblines as needed)
until you get to that last big room...bots galore! A few more
rooms of this (stopping to grab the full health powerup),
a few dozen powered up laser scatterbombs, and you're ready
to show this weatherlady what time it is.
35. CHAMBER OF HORRORS
This level can be really easy. There's a lot of it you can
ignore on the quickest way to the boss.
Go all the way to the right, then straight up through
a few chambers (including one with a lot of blue and green
crystal walls), go one corridor over to the right, down
the skinny passage, pick up the energy at the bottom,
head right, then down to a room with lasergates, then
left to take out the boss. Meow.
36. THE DANGER ROOM
Heading straight up for the boss is pretty suicidal. Instead,
take out the 10 chambers individually by find the exposed bombs
that will remove their walls (you'll have to get a start at each
of the four corners of the board), then back to the center
corridor to duel with the big boss. Explode the center chamber
where the boss is lurking by hitting the bombs, don't get yourself
caught in there....and be careful to stay away from the dramatically
exploding yellow bombs that are lining the wall...they're dangerous.
The drill things that the boss sends out are relatively speedy...
but if you wait until they're almost on top of you, a missile
scatterbomb should be able to take them out and do plenty of
damage to the boss as well.
37. DEFENSIVE PERIMITER
This level is a bit tedious. Be careful not to run out
of scatterbomb. There are some healths lurking about,
including at the very top (along with an infostation
to the top left) In general you want to make
your way up and to the left, into some big dangerous
chambers. You don't have to kill everything in those
rooms as you make your way down, but you have to
have a sure hand on that R-trigger in order to make
it in one piece! The bottom chamber is full of blue
wobblies, be a little careful.
38. THE SF KOSMO BATTLESHIP
Time to take it to 'em. I'm not sure what unlocks the blue
doors around the first big chamber you hit; just kill lots
of stuff. Afterwards, you'll have a decision: loop back
to the starting point to pick up the health there, or go for
it on the left side. If you go back you'll have to go through
all the places you zoomed through (or carefully took your time
with...)
Luckily, the boss is really easy, so you don't have to
go for the health and can just finish the level. He has some
red bot guards that you can't kill (hiding behind the green
crystal walls) but they shouldn't be able to do too much damage.
39. RED PLANET
This is another smash and grab, I think. Maybe I've gotten
a bit burnt out on this game, but I've started much preferring
slashing and burning my way to the goal, rather than focussing
on taking out every dang bot and gun emplacement.
So the goal is to move all the way up and to the left.
Eventually, you get to the main section around the boss.
It needs to be broken open via bomblines to the left and the right..
and the right side even has a full health bonus up above.
I don't know what causes the final blue door to open, but just
keep killing things in the area until it does.
This boss can be a little tricky, surrounded by crystals on
all sides. Your first priority should be to take out all the
gun emplacements, including the ones inside the cage. If you're
careful, you might even be able to do this without waking up
the boss...that would be a good thing to do. The boss isn't too
aggressive, just pick top or bottom, fire away, and then swing
around to the other side if the return fire gets to heavy.
You'll ring her bell in no time.
40. BLOCKADE
Now it starts to get tough. The first few chamber are pretty
straightforward, just be careful and take out the flames with
a safe pattern. After the flames, you'll enter a big room. Down
below where you entered the room , there's a smaller chamber
with a blue door. Once you blow up enough stuff to open the blue
door, (I noticed scatterbombing outside the blue door tends to help...
maybe it's a house or scenery that you have to blow up to open it?)
enter the chamber, kill any bots there, and look....you
should see a full health powerup as well as that lovable V!
Be careful though...the powerups are almost embedded in unbreakable
blocks, so if you use too much reflective scatterbomb, you might be
prevented from getting the loot! Once you do get the V, Go hog
wild and try to clear out everything in this chamber...some of the
blue doors are very fussy indeed.
Remember to switch to homing missiles to clean up what you miss
with the Vornado...some of that stuff is hidden behind blue
crystal. There's some health to the top right.
Oh, and even if the door to the bottom right opens up, you need to clear
out that lower part of the room, where all the lasergates are, since
there are some bomblines blocking the corridor below.
After going back up to the door on tie right, head down the
far-lower right corridor to the passage you previous cleared.
Be careful with the next room with a ton of gun emplacements,
they'll make a sloppy player dead real quick like. The nearby
flames don't make things any easier, and the generators are
dropping bots like there's no tomorrow (which is appropriate,
given that for the generators there won't be any tomorrow
once you're through with them.)
The flames are a bit tricky, since there are so many of them.
I suggest overwhelming firepower.
As far as I can tell, there are some lasergates near the final
boss you just can't kill, I guess they are there to tighten
the range you have to fight in. So be careful. Luckily, this boss
is so slow that you should have little trouble if you stay out
of its way.
41. STOCKADE
Don't blow up the bombs above to get the health yet, knucklehead!
Head right. Get the Vornado powerup, using my non-patented "fly upwards"
unbreakable falling block technique. I suggest taking the corridor
to the right (to a great big room full of lots and lots of gun
emplacements) rather than the downward path, but it's up to you.
There's some health on the far right wall.
Now be CAREFUL with the bombs behind blue crystal in the passageway
down. Probably your best bet is to get some of the bots below to fly
into that hallway, otherwise you can't blow up the BIG bombs with
your missiles. They might accidentally blow up the bombs as well...
you don't want to be around when that happens. (One time through,
I re-enacted the "escape the exploding Death Star" scene from
Rogue Leader, just barely escaping the series of blasts one of
the bots set off.)
There's a full health to the right of this room, in a stack of
breakable blocks. Grab it but only if you need it, since you
can use it right before the end.
Go to the right, blast the lasergates (you'll probably need
to use your laser scatterbombs). There are then some columns of
falling unbreakable blocks you need to rush through, or else
you'll get stuck.
There's then a small room with lots of enemy guns behind blue
crystal, missile 'em.
You then enter a very large and dangerous room. If you need them you can
get the health at the top of the room, which is where you started
the level.
At the bottom of the room is a small chamber, with guns behind
green crystal. I'd suggest using your laser and moving to the
sides to take them out.
And as a reward for being so good... a full health! Yay. Just be careful
not to trap yourself!
The next part is tricky. Blow up what you can through the few
"blue crystal" windows there, but be very defensive. You probably
want to dash through this. Clear your way to the right, zip
back to the left, then go to the right again...on the final
passage there's enough stuff to kill that hopefully you
can generate some health packs by using your scatterbomb.
The red door will shut behind you and you're momentarily safe.
Pause and take a breather, you deserve it. Grab the full health
up above if you haven't used it already.
The boss chamber is well-guarded with guns. Some are easy
to knock out. Others are harder, but with clever maneuvering
you should be able to get rid of all of them before taking
on the boss. In particular, the guns to the left and right
center can be taken out with diagonal shots down, though
the angle is tough. After that, despite all his boasting,
the boss is going byebye.
42. GROUND ZERO
This is another level where I tend to rush through.
I skim along the ground until I get the Vornado,
then head up and to the right. I kill enough stuff 'til the
blue door opens and then I go through.
The upper area is full of enemies. I tend to mostly
ignore them, scatterbombing as needed. The interesting parts of
this area are the three regions to the far left.
The top and bottom regions have health. and bomblines
you need to hit to get to the boss. Both are guarded by
lasergates behind blue crystal. And the bottom bombline
is annoying...you have to fly back down to the lower
area to finish off the job, and then back right!
There are some whole healths around...in the barrier
between the two main areas, and to the top right
of the top area.
Now, I find the center area that the boss is hiding behind
too dangerous to destroy. I rush in past it, activate the boss,
and rush out, using laser scatterbombs to block out any projectiles
headed my way. After I tend to have the boss follow me to
the bottom chamber, going in circles in and out of the side
chamber, with me firing a stream missiles all the time. Remember
though, he can shoot through the green and blue crystals
where the lasergates used to be, including his great big
gun. He's also quick...just not that maneuverable.
It's not elegant, but it works.
43. THE LAST GREAT WAR
Wow...this level went by so quickly, I don't even know
what happened! One minute I'm in that first chamber
blowing up bots til I can get to a V symbol, then
I'm dashing as fast as I can (with Vornado power)
'til I get to a room with flame throwers...but the
blue door won't open! I rush back, blast my way to
the yellow health that I didn't need, firing defensive
missile scatterbombs, the blue door's open,
I ricochet my way through past some lasergates,
up and down through some twisty corridors (ignoring
a bunch of guns there) and then I see this
crazy Noire sheep! I missile a gun emplacement above
and the bombline behind which seals off the boss chamber
from the bad guys I left behind, take out the other
game chamber, and then kill the boss, avoiding the
few pathetic missiles that constitute his last defense.
44. THE FINAL CHALLENGE
Phew, the final level!
The whole level is divided into great big left and right
sweeps. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say
that if you're determined to beat the final boss, you're
going to get a lot of practice working your way though
this level...I certainly did. That final boss is a real
bastard.
First Sweep (Left to Right): Your laser scatterbomb
training should make short work of these rooms. Make sure
you don't leave any robots to the left of the final vertical
red door, since they may prevent the next door from opening!
There's some health here, and if you're doing your delayed
scatterbombs here you should have plenty of health.
Second Sweep (Right to Left): These sections, rather
gun emplacement centric, are separated by odd little
piles of unbreakable blocks, often on top of generators
that you have to destroy before you can squeeze
through. These rooms have incredible 400-MAX potential...
just wait 'til you see the whites of their missile
exhaust.
Third Sweep (Left to Right)
The Laser Room: pretty easy
Brick and Bot Room: easy.
Don't get too close to the yellow explosive bricks
though, and grab the health the bomblines leave behind.
Laser Hallways: easy, just take your time
and force your way through with laser scatterbombs
Big Room: you might want to destroy the wobbly from
the room's entrance. Clear out the floor by walking on
it with your regular gun, using defensive scatterbombs.
The red robot generators are very well armored. The
second half of the big room is just crying out for
some welltimed scatterbombs...after that, (and after
possibly grabbing the health on the far right wall)
fly along the ceiling and take care of the generator there.
Then go down the chute, clearing it before you proceed.
Be careful of the lasergates at the bottom (scatterbomb)
and that brings us to
Fourth Sweep (Right to Left)
Grab more health on the right side if you need it.
The rest of this sweep is just a bot bashing fest, with
plenty of missile emplacements to keep things interesting.
You have to destroy almost every bot before moving on.
Fifth Sweep (Left to Right)
Ah, these last few rooms are the last hurrah for
robots, gun emplacements, and laser gates. One last
chance to use those sweet reflective laser scatterbombs...
be a little careful of the final two guns, they're hard to
shoot without being on top of them.
Finally, you're in the antechamber. There's a full health here
that you could probably use. Also, you should take the time to
fully charge your scatterbombs, by destroying buildings and even
the wobblies if you need to. (You can also destroy some buildings
in the boss room)
Enter the bossroom, but don't wake him up yet...you'll probably
be firing homing missiles, so you want to clear out the room from
all the houses, so they don't distract your stupid little missiles.
The final boss is really, really tough. The 19 boss was a preview,
and 25 was tough...but this guy? Yow. Here's what I learned:
* Keep your distance. Seriously. If he gets on top of you you're toast.
* Dash from his bullets, firing back to give yourself some cover.
You can't depend on defensive scatterbombs, often he'll launch a
second wave. Then all you'll see is a big white light...
* One possible technique: when you're a medium distance away (and
he's not heading towards you), fire a pre-emptive scatterbomb strike.
If you're close to his lasers, you'll launch a lot. Now you need to
see how many strikes he launches back, and counter each one with
another wave. That's probably the key to taking this guy out, always
meet his scatterbombs with a scatterbomb of your own...and be ready
to move away from the combat area once the slowdown stops.
* Once you get his health down far enough, he goes Vornado. I kid
you not, it's one of the most unfair things in the game. At that
point, RUN. DASH. Always be thinking of where you're going next.
Fire backwards 'cause he'll still be trying to laser you.
When the music finally ends, you should be able to take him out.
Hope you're a speedreader to read the ending! If not, some of the
other FAQs have the text for you to read at your leisure.
That's it...if you've made it through with out the cheat code,
you're pretty tough!
--COPYRIGHT--
Copyright 2002 By Kirk Israel <
[email protected]>.
Not to be posted, published, or modified without explicit permission.
