Metal Storm - Expert Difficulty Walkthrough
Version 2.32
Copyright January/10/2008 by Apathy000
[email protected]
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Game Story
III. Basic Controls
IV. Advanced Controls / Powerups
V. Differences Between Difficulties
VI. Points
VII. General Strategies / Normal Enemies / Bosses
VIII. Level 1
IX. Level 2
X. Level 3
XI. Level 4
XII. Level 5
XIII. Level 6
IXX. Level 7
XX. Contributors / VIDEOS
XI. Copyright
I. Introduction
First off, Why do we need a walkthrough for expert difficulty?
Because the layout of the game, and the behavior of enemies makes the
game different, and very, very hard. Playing Expert without playing
Normal is not recommended.
Beating Expert is brutal and very time-consuming (30 hours plus),
although with this walkthrough you should beat it MUCH faster then I did.
I do not know the names of the enemies so I will do my best to
describe them.
I will be using the way the game divides the levels. The half of
level 4 is 4-1, the second half 4-2. I will also use 4-3 to denote the
boss for the sake of organization.
Unfortunately this is the type of difficulty where step-by-step
instructions fail. Many parts require exact placement of the character
and if you are off by a few pixels you will die. However the strategies
here will make the game much easier.
I will assume that you are starting each section with no powerups.
II. Game Story
A gundam-looking thing saves the world from machines bent on
destruction.
III. Basic Controls
Movement
Up
Right
Left
Diagonals
Shoot - A
Jump - B
Duck - Down
**Jumping Glitch** - If you press the jump button just
right you can jump off of spikes.
IV. Advanced Controls / Powerups
A. Adv. Controls
In this game you can reverse the gravity to walk on the
ceiling. Very cool.
Reverse Gravity - Up and Jump. "Up" is the ceiling
of the character in the game. You can reverse
gravity at any point while in the air. You can also
reverse gravity in the middle of a jump, or you can
walk out into thin air and reverse gravity if desired.
**REVERSE GRAVITY FIREBALL GLITCH** - When changing
gravity with 'G' powerup, if you press the jump
button RIGHT when the fireball meets the ground
you can jump with the fireball still active.
B. Powerups
**Getting any other powerup besides 'A' will overwrite the previous
powerup.
**Getting the same power more than once will not affect its performance.
**You can carry the powerups to the next level, once you loose a
continue they disappear**
You get 1000 points for each power you acquire.
'A' - Armor. Protects you from one shot. Usually
destroys enemy if it bumps into you. Always
try to get these. However, getting more than 1
'A' will not protect you from two hits, it
still only protects from one hit. Getting 'A'
does not overwrite other powerups.
'B' - Gives 5000 bonus points. When points give you
nothing, I see no incentive for getting this.
'G' - Gravity Fireball. When changing gravity you
are temporarily invincible and damage enemies
you bump into while changing gravity. Good for
level 2.
'P' - Powershot. Makes your gun twice as powerful
with a wider damage area. It can shoot through
walls which is very useful. Good on most levels
and every boss.
'S' - Shield. Provides a shield for you that blocks
normal bullets in the direction you put it. It
damages enemies that it collides with. You can
extend the shield if you hold down. Saves your
life on the levels, but it won't on the bosses
simply because most moves by bosses are
unblockable.
'T' - Gives more time. Get both of them in Level 2-1
so you do not time-out and die if you are
trying to beat 2-2 on the same life, which is
really unlikely.
'1-up' - !! Well it is incredible there are even one
up-s here. And unfortunately it will not make
much of a difference.
V. Differences Between Difficulties
The game has two difficulty settings. Normal and Expert. Normal
took me about 5-6 hours to beat. Expert took me over 30 hours. Here are
the reasons why Expert is so much more difficult.
1. Enemies that did not shoot before now do, and all enemies
shoot more often.
2. Enemies take more hits.
3. Placement of enemies severely restricts freedom in most levels.
4. Most bosses require new strategies to defeat.
5. The precise movements required for the player during certain
parts.
6. Level 7 does not have Powerups.
VI. Points
As far as I can tell points do nothing. Max points is 999999 then
if you go over that, it is reset back to 0. No life, no reward, nothing.
VII. General Strategies / Enemies /Bosses-----------------------------
A.General Strategies
This is a "grinding" difficulty, meaning it will take you many
lives to understand how to defeat parts in the game. The timing of
certain parts of the game on expert is extremely precise. The best
thing to do would be to read the walkthrough, and watch a run through
expert on a video, then grind.
Finding the best strategy that works for you is more important
than doing exactly what another does. A recent run through on normal
will help on your run on expert, so you are familiar with the controls,
and enemies.
This is a sidescroller and enemies appear as you uncover their
location. You can make use of this by moving slowly to uncover one
enemy at a time.
Another very useful exploit is that if the bullets go off screen
they disappear. On level 2 and 6 this makes your life easier, because
you can outrun the bullets, or 'fall' up to the bottom on level 6.
*******
The best piece of advice I wish I had when I was playing was explained
to me by Beast Mangler:
"If you finish a level with powerups, and die on the next level,
you press End, go to Password,
then press Enter, and you restart with all of the stuff you just
ended with."
************
So you do not have to beat the first parts of levels with normal
shot, and since this little restarting feature is fast, there is no
reason not to use it. Unless you REALLY want to beat the first section
of the levels without carrying over the powers. Your skill at the game
would certainly improve with the brutality.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!!
B.Enemies
In order of appearance with some additional information about
them.
Enemy Name: Walker
Description: Walks. Appears in the first 2 levels. On expert it
shoots in the direction it is facing. Changing
gravity makes it go on the opposite wall.
Points: 200
Enemy Name: Roller
Description: White and rolls along the ground in Level 1. Fires
periodically. Difficult because of its fast movement.
Points: 100
Enemy Name: White Turret
Description: Stationary turret that shoots a single bullet every
few seconds. It has eight possible shooting
positions.
Common hard enemy often in groups.
Points: 500
Enemy Name: Red Turret
Description: Stationary turret that can swivel to shoot in two
directions. Much easier than a white turret.
Points: 300
Enemy Name: Laser
Description: Shoots a laser across the screen for three seconds.
Can swivel to point in other direction. Can use 'G'
to bypass it. Most annoying enemy in game.
Points: 300
Enemy Name: Wall Gun
Description: You cannot get past this without defeating it. It
creates a wall and the gun is in the center. It
shoots in arcs starting on the wall you are on.
Can also crush you against the opposite wall if you
fail to kill it quickly.
Points: 8000
Enemy Name: Big Ship
Description: A cylindrical ship that shoots two bullets from its
back that fly toward its front in parabolic arcs as
it moves across the screen. Best to kill them quickly.
Points: 1000
Enemy Name: Three-Shot
Description: There is only two in the game. You dodge its
shots and fire to kill it. Has three places to fire
forward from.
Points: 5000
Enemy Name: Moving Block
Description: These are in level 3 and move along a track fairly
quickly. Dodge or kill according to your desired way
of moving through the level.
There is one thing that you can use to make the gray
blocks easier, and that is moving back a little in
the level and then moving forward. If you time it
right two gray blocks will come closely together and
give you a few precious moments to continue.
Points: 300
Enemy Name: Fish Ship
Description: A fast moving ship that fires shots at you as it
comes onscreen, then it leaves and fires a shot at
you. I believe it has the same 8 positional
targeting as the white turret, you can make use of
that in certain places.
Easily the most dangerous normal enemy in the game.
Points: 500
Enemy Name: Pink Creature
Description: Launches itself at you after a few seconds
of appearing on screen. One of the easiest enemies.
Kill and dodge them in Level 4.
Points: 200
Enemy Name: White Spinner
Description: Has a center that is vulnerable, and has an
invincible part that spins around it.
Appears a few times in level 4.
Points: 800
Enemy Name: Jelly Donut
Description: Like a jelly donut it a has a hole that you can shoot
to kill. Fires a shot every few seconds. Appears in
level 4, and one of the easiest enemies in the game.
Points: 2000
Enemy Name: Retaliation
Description: A grayish enemy that moves horizontally
across the screen. If you kill it, a large crescent
shot will come at you. If it hits the opposite end
of the screen a large shot will move in the direction
it came from. A couple found in level 5. If they die
by hitting the opposite end of the screen you also
get 100 points.
Points: 100
Enemy Name: Pod on Coaxial Cable
Description: The pod in 7-7 itself does not fight back on Normal.
On Expert, it has turrets that fire at you from
below and above the pod. The turrets are in the
background, and shoot odd bullets whose damage
area seems to change. If you cover the turret with
your body you will not be damaged by the shots.
Points: 1
C. Bosses
Let me say something here that Beast Mangler taught me. You can
time out bosses. Wait 5 minutes and they will die. Your Stage Bonus
points will be zero however.
The Stage Bonus depends on how quickly you defeat the boss.
**Refer to Level 7 for a list of boss descriptions. Level 7 is
a level where you fight every boss in the game.**
VIII. Level 1
Here you learn the difference between Normal and Expert, and
because of the shocking difference this level will take you longer than
you will expect. This level is fairly difficult.
Stage 1-1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BqBDzF1YWI&feature=user
Stage 1-2 and 1-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGjmPfRa18
1-1
Move forward on the ceiling while firing and you will encounter a
lot of walkers and rollers. Be careful of standing in front of the
direction the walkers are moving, but you can still duck to avoid the
walker's shot. Rollers go along the edge of the areas they are on, and
tend to come out of nowhere to kill you. So take it slow. Both take a
small amount of hits to kill. Reversing gravity is also a good way to
keep the walkers from moving forward or backward.
I suggest staying to the ceiling, because it is easier to kill
the enemies.
Red turrets are placed near the end of this section. Best way to
kill them is from above or below them. Use the reverse gravity to
position yourself so they cannot fire at you. You may have to dodge
bullets from the white turret a little ahead.
A bunch of red turrets are clustered in steps in front of the end
of 1-1. Take your time and eliminate each one then deal with the white
turret.
1-2
A wall gun will appear when you move a little bit more into the
level. Kill the wall gun up close so it does not regenerate. Just for
fun, you could continually kill the wall gun for a massive amount of
points. It gives 8000 points per kill.
Avoid the two white turrets and get the 'A' that's at the top of
the screen.
Kill or dodge the red turrets and the white turret a little
further on.
Reverse gravity and continue firing, you can duck to avoid some
shots. Esp., watch out for the white turret. Kill everything, but take
your time.
After that mess you will come to part with two red turrets below
and a white turret on the other side of a wall that you cannot kill
from where you start. I suggest timing it after the red turrets fire
to walk forward and shoot up to kill the upper red turret, then
flipping gravity immediately. This way you will be safe to kill the
bottom one and the white turret.
Now above you there will be two more red turrets. Flip gravity
after they fire, shoot for a second or two then flip back down, after
you kill one you can continue. It is possible to flip between them but
it is really risky, and more for a speed run oriented player.
A little later will be a three-shot. It will fire where you are
positioned. You will be retreating as you kill it (unless you want to
use your 'A' to kill it by bumping into it, cool for a speedrun, but
not so cool if you do it by accident).
A 'P' is near two walkers after the three-shot. Get that, kill
the walkers, and proceed to the boss.
1-3
Boss 1: Peeping Tom
Dif w/o PowerUp: ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to **
Description: Has a weak point that peeps out from its three
holes. On Expert it shoots a roughly homing shot and normal shots that
do not home. Powershot destroys the homing shot. Shoot it when it
first pops out, then go to the upper right area, then to the left if
necessary. You will need to duck the shots that come at your head.
Beast Mangler: "Shoot up at the blue rings, and there's a somewhat
safe spot to the left or right of that central eye. So stay in that
area, and just move left to right to dodge the pink rings and shoot up
at the blue ones, or dodge them by moving to the side a bit, right
before it is about to hit you. It should also mention in the guide that
the blue rings can be shot."
Timing out not recommended.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor
IX. Level 2
If you are planning on getting to the boss with a powerup you
will need to beat stage 2 on one continue.
In the second part of the level oddly enough the powerups go away after
a single life. And you will need to
get at least one of the 'T'( extra time ) powerups if you are planning
a one-life-run.
Beast Mangler : "On level 2 the powerups disappear after a life."
Stage 2
2-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_geqQj9Ro&feature=user
2-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxvcD8JNvA&feature=user
2-1
Move forward while shooting and you will kill the first of three
big ships. Keep moving back a little bit and the bullets from the
other two will go off screen and disappear.
You should acquire the 'G' powerup after the ships. It will make
things a lot easier.
Move forward, and kill/avoid the white turrets.
At this point you come to the 'electrical clappers', you will
need to jump up past them and reverse gravity.
Next clapper you will jump up to the ledge below it and jump past
and reverse gravity.
A bit further you will want to go stand next to the gold block
and then jump and reverse gravity. Continue walking and jump towards
the bottom of the screen, reverse gravity and acquire the 1up, then
immediately walk left. Jump up and reverse gravity to leave alive.
There is a bonus near here, but it is useless, so just ignore it.
Two clappers will be below you. Here a little acrobatics is
required. Walk on the ceiling, jump down, and reverse gravity. You
will land on the second clapper's ledge. Then jump up to the ledge with
the first clapper, reverse gravity, jump and then reverse gravity yet
again, and you will be past that.
A little further will be many ledges with clappers on this.
Move forward, and when you walk onto the gold block jump,
reverse gravity, walk forward more, jump to the bottom ledge again,
and jump again all while moving forward and you can leave 2-1.
2-2
If this is your first life here you can get the powerups. There
are 'S' and 'P' powers in a little area with spikes. You can jump
forward and then reverse gravity, same thing to get out.
Continue and there will be block that change their position based
on your orientation, change gravity to alter their position.
Keep going forward and there is a staircase like area with white
turrets, continually move forward until you get to an area different
with two white turret in front of you. You will have to be on the
ceiling and then walk forward and jump, then jump again and move
forward to pass this part.
Continue past the two white turrets, and you will come to more
blocks, pass these and the single white turret at the bottom.
Next is a whole lot of ledges, and big ships that come across
screen. The best thing to do is continue moving forward while jumping
and kill only when needed.
2-3
Boss 2: The Five Vomiting Faces
Dif w/o PowerUp: ** to ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: *
Description: Has five levels and each level is the shooting
area of one of the five faces. The faces open up and fire forth a shot
for a few seconds. With Powershot simply hold down the fire button and
walk forward to kill the first face then position yourself so you can
shoot up and down to kill the faces when they open up.
Without Powershot you will need to continually fire at a face of
your choosing, without Powershot you will fail to kill any face without
jumping to avoid a shot. I go up, down, and then up again, and by then
the first starting face will die, then shoot up or down to kill.
An 'A' Powerup does not destroy a face.
Timing out is risky, because new faces will respawn.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot
X. Level 3
This level's parts have very dissimilar parts regarding to
their difficulty. 3-1 is quite easy with only a tricky part at the end,
where you can use an 'A' power to bypass. But 3-2 is one of the
hardest parts in the game, and will require a lot of practice.
There is one thing that you can use to make the gray blocks
easier, and that is moving back a little in the level and then moving
forward. If you time it right two gray blocks will come closely
together and give you a few precious moments to continue. Otherwise
the gray blocks will continue coming evenly spaced apart. The spacing
without this trick does not allow you to continue easily.
Stage 3 -
3-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wshz8dB8Fow&feature=user
3-2 & 3-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeB9OUyNqY&feature=user
Stage 3-2 //Beast Mangler's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxw_nbFlj2Q&feature=related
3-1
Progress carefully shooting the walkers in your way. Duck if you
have good reflexes to dodge their shots. Watch out for the moving gray
blocks. They take a good amount of shooting to kill so do not stand in
front of them shooting hoping to kill it in time.
When you come to a part with spikes and a track with gray blocks,
walk on the floor and jump onto that step in the middle of the spikes,
avoiding the stream of gray blocks. Shoot up if you want to kill the
walker if you did not change gravity and kill him that way. Jump again
to cross the other gap of spikes.
A little further are three powerups, 'G', 'P', and 'A' are on
the same screen. 'G' will make your life easier, in the levels and on
the boss, but 'P' is also good on the boss. 'A' is a no brainer; pick
it up. If you do not want the 'P' power you can walk on the ceiling
above the 'P' and just reverse gravity to get the 'A' only.
After some gray block dodging, you will come to a tricky part. A
track for gray blocks leads into a tight area with a white turret above.
The 'G' powerup makes it easy, when changing gravity you are
invulnerable so walk forward and reverse gravity while pressing forward.
After you passed that part, with the 'P' powerup you will have to play a
little game with the turret. Running out of the tunnel after killing
the white turret will not work because it will regenerate. To do this
run away from the tunnel for about a screen's worth. Then keep moving
forward and continue shooting up. You need to position yourself so the
turret does not point straight down. You will need to kill it before
the gray block meets with your body, and then move forward into a
little ditch and duck. Change gravity after the gray block passes and
go onto the little ditch in the ceiling, jump past the next block and
you are past that little trickery. You can probably do this without a
powerup easily by using an 'A' powerup, but you should use it when you
really need it (aka boss), but I suppose the chances of getting to
the boss with the 'A' powerup are very slim if this is your first run
through Expert.
Avoid some more blocks, and a white turret and you come to 3-2.
3-2
The best way to complete this level is continue moving forward,
otherwise the grey blocks will cause a problem for you by streaming
quickly.
At first you will jump, and get the 'P' powerup. The 'P' powerup
is far more useful than a life at this point, because it will allow you
kill grey blocks with a reasonable amount of shooting. The other two
are a 1up and a 'B' bonus.
Continue moving forward until the gravity furnace. Change
gravity to pass it.
Jump onto the small platform above the spikes making sure that a
grey block is not coming your way.
Jump onto the next area, but do not move onto the track for the
grey blocks. A fish ship will right above your head. You can kill it
easily if you have the 'P' powerup by shooting up.
After this is one of the hardest parts in the game. Hard because
if you do not time it just right you will die. There are several ways
of doing this part, and unfortunately they all depend on how you have
been progressing through the level, and deal with exact timing. Start
moving forward after the grey block passes above you, change gravity
and keep going. Many fish will pass you while firing, but you should
not be hit. A little further on will be a small platform, jump onto it
and wait until a grey block moves down out of your way and jump or fall
onto a small platform below that one, turn and kill the fish on your
left. On the last platform you may have to move to the left a little
and duck.
In the next area you can possibly use the fact that you can jump
off of spikes once if you press jump at the right moment to make it a
little easier. Navigate through the grey blocks, and kill the white
turret on the other side of the wall (if you do not have the 'P'
Powershot then this part will be much harder).
After killing the white turret, start shooting the grey block as
it moves down on the other side of the screen, jump 'up' and kill it
while moving forward. Jump down on the platform surrounded by spikes.
Here you can kill the top turret by shooting it off screen so jump and
shoot a bit then reverse gravity, avoiding the grey blocks, and the one
bullet from the left over white turret and go to the boss.
3-3
Boss 3: The Sinner
Dif w/o PowerUp: *** to ****
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to ***
Description: This guy can be really tough. He is a floating
robot with two satellites that spin around him many times faster than
on Normal. The stage is separated into four parts and the four parts
are guarded by slow moving lasers.
There are two ways to kill him easily. The first is to have the
'A' powerup, get hit but stay underneath him, shoot and kill. The
second is to time it EXACTLY and move in between the Expertly fast
satellites. To do this you stay in the initial position
and after it is closes up count '1' then move your character forward.
If you do it just right you can be underneath him and be invulnerable.
The second way is to have him follow you around the level. The boss
will 'close up' and be invulnerable whenever he is moving. Then he will
move into the 'square' you are occupying. His movements are timed,
so make sure you keep track of how long it is until he moves.
The best way to make sure you are not killed as soon as he enters your
square is to jump before he comes into your square and reverse
gravity.
Gravity Fireball can help a lot on this one, but you will have to
fight this guy again in 7-3, and unless you can beat multiple levels
without losing a continue, you will not get Gravity Fireball for it.
(oh yes, on level 7 there are NO powerups. But you can just put in the
password again).
Timing out is easy if you are underneath him, but why wait when
you can shoot? Otherwise timing-out is not recommended.
Recommended Powerup: Armor and/or Powershot
XI. Level 4
This is the toughest level in the game. This is where you
you decide to stop playing the game or continue. If you do get
past this level than you are past the hardest the game will offer.
Stage 4 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZduJHwTJxWY&feature=related
L4-Miniboss-jumping-trick---Expert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUFrvVs4udI
four-gun-walls-no-other-power-but-Armor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJhGcz2XE4&feature=user
4-1
In the beginning you will have to dodge green balls, and three
fish ships.
I recommend getting the 'A' powerup in the next area for the
miniboss, by changing gravity and going in between two balls, then
ducking in the corner.
This area is full of white spinners. The part that spins is
invincible so shoot the center, or dodge.
After that there are big ships that come very often, kill and
dodge to get past it.
Then are three blue-purple turrets that reincarnate after you
kill them. Position yourself above the stack of two, to shoot down
their shots.
Miniboss: Kuru Kuru Revolution!!
Dif w/o Powerup: *****
Dif w/ Powerup: *** to ****
Description: You are in the box typical of stage 4. The boss has
four parts that sit on a wall of the box. After the round starts it
begins to spin, and as time passes it spins extremely fast. Then it
will slow down, stop, and fire easily avoidable missiles. Continue
shooting, and kill as many parts as possible until it repeats its
spinning. Not that hard right? WRONG.
I rarely see a part in any game more difficult to dodge then
these four spinning parts. It IS possible to dodge the four parts until
they slow down and stop. I was able to do defeat it by counting in my
head. You jump one part 4 times, then you jump 2 parts twice, then
three parts 6 or 7 times. Then you avoid the slowing down parts.
Extremely difficult to pull off.
To defeat this boss realistically basically requires you to have
gotten the 'A' Powerup and/or the Powershot earlier in the level. If
you have 'A', and are hit by one of the pieces, that piece will die
(like they placed the 'A' to make this guy more beatable). You can
also kill a piece before they start spinning fast with the Powershot.
Then you need to perform a little jumping dance with reverse gravity.
You need to move in a counter-clockwise movement in the same
direction the remaining pieces are moving, and be changing gravity to
get in the safe spot. Then kill them when they stop.
With Shield it is kind of the same strategy, just make use of the
damage you get in when the shield collides with a foe.
Mike J emailed me with this easier method of jumping the parts of
the miniboss.
"My strategy right at the beginning of the mini-boss fight is to jump
over two bots at a time. I stand at the left, then jump right to
clear two bots. As they speed up, I have to jerk left at the end of
the jump to avoid the third bot in a row. But there is a point where
they are so fast that you can jump ALL the way right (and then all the
way left, back and forth) and clear three bots at a time. Once they
start to slow down, you need to adjust your jump to avoid the bots
slowing down, but this is much easier to do than the speeding up.
Mike J"
Timing out - You can time it out. Although, if you can last minutes then
you can kill it.
Recommended Powerup: Armor and/or Powershot
4-2
Kill and/or dodge the pink creatures at the start.
Next up is FOUR Wall Guns in a row. If you have powershot it is
easy, with shield it is doable. With neither of these it is incredibly
difficult to kill all four with just normal shot and 'A', because if
you do not kill them fast enough the wall guns will crush you against
the wall(or just shoot you to death, hah). But here's how you can
accomplish it. Stand to the left of half way across the box. To test
the position wait until the first gun wall moves about halfway across
the screen towards you and stops. YOUR position needs to be as close
as possible to the place it will stop without dying. You must time your
first jump to be on the way up right before it goes inside of your cage
and is harmable, and hold the fire button. You must jump quite exactly
so the maximum shots get into the gun wall. Kill the first wall,
continue shooting the second wall. When the second wall moves more
forward move to the leftmost area of the box, and shoot it until it
dies. Jump into the third one and keep shooting until it dies. Then
you must shoot the fourth one until it dies. Good luck without
Powershot, Gravity Fireball, or Shield.
The four white turrets are decent distractions, but the jelly
donuts that come up next are easily dodged and killed.
You will face green balls and three waves of fish ships, and each
fish ship will fire two shots. Shoot them down or dodge them. I am
brief here because their are multiple ways to dodge or kill them.
Dodge the remaining attempts to kill you with green balls and
pink creatures and go to the boss.
4-3
Boss 4: The Stock Market
Dif w/o PowerUp: *****
Dif w/ PowerUp: *** to ****
Description: I have a real hard time on this boss on Expert.
There is no consistent way to kill this guy. The lasers above and
below you move toward your position, they alternate shots then shoot
simultaneously. If you have Armor and are hit by a laser the bottom
laser turret will usually die. Above and below you are two guns that
can only be killed with Shield or Powershot. They take a massive
amount of hits on Expert, probably as much as the boss, so you may
want to rethink your strategy about killing them.
Follow the Market and keep shooting, depending on the position of
your character you could be trapped, so make sure to remember a route
that does not get you killed.
Gravity Fireball is effective but tricky on this boss.
**Easy Kill Glitch - If you get hit with Armor, when the Stock
Market touches the floor or ceiling it will jitter along the
ceiling/wall that it was on. Much easier than it bouncing all over the
place. A good location to make it jitter is right near your spawn point
for the boss. Just move a LITTLE bit to the left and get hit with Armor.
**Death Glitch - Beast Mangler apparently 'grinded' into the boss
ASAP in the match and it DIED while he had an 'A' powerup. He said it
must be at an extremely specific time and place on the enemy, because
he never got it to work again. After an hour or two of trying I was
able to experience this glitch, so this thing is an extremely rare
occurance.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor.
XII. Level 5
This level is hard but nowhere near as hard as stage 4 (thank
god). 5-1 consists of very precise movements and timing, and is a pain
to learn how to do. On 5-1 I suggest continually reloading so you have
a power to go through this more easily. The wall moves faster than on
Normal (as you probably guessed). 5-2 is a tough, but fun part. 5-3
becomes difficult if you try to kill him without timing out.
Stage 5 -
5-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BmKnJndBek&feature=user
5-2 and 5-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-mzc0T_yLg&feature=related
5-3 - Using the Gravity Fireball Glitch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJeTygqGrs
5-1
The first three lasers are no big deal, just wait 2-3 seconds and
move over/under them.
After those you will be below an area, with three lasers above
you. One laser points vertically, the other two point horizontally.
You can go underneath the vertical one and shoot up for a second or two
then retreat. Repeat to kill the first one. You will need to go
up in between the two lasers, move right, and duck in the little area
provided for you.
Pop up and shoot the right one without getting shot. If you are
quick, you can "outrun" the left laser. Get up as soon as the left
one is done firing and run until it is off screen and you are safe.
:). This little maneuver is almost necessary as the wall is closing
in fast, and taking the time to kill the left one can prove
to be fatal.
Move forward and jump the laser below you. The next part needs
very precise timing. A horizontal laser prevents you from moving up and
forward through a little passageway, and a vertical laser is
immediately below you after you would leave the passageway. To do this
you must be jumping as the horizontal laser is about to stop firing,
quickly move through the passsageway, reverse gravity, and move to the
upper rightmost corner, which holds a Gravity Fireball power.
There is a Powershot below the vertical laser, and you can get it
by shooting that laser and using the Gravity Fireball to kill it.
Finish off the horizontal laser and continue.
Go past a laser and a white turret, and there will be a lot of lasers.
Just move with caution along the bottom for a while and you will come
to a ledge with a white turret leading out. Beast Mangler
informed me that you can kill the white turret when it is slightly off
screen even though it is inside orange blocks (powershot cannot go
through them). Gravity is also useful give you a slight edge coming out
alive. Be careful of the horizontal lasers jumping out and go to 5-2.
5-2
The laser wall is still moving in this level, but it is not an
issue, as you should have plenty of time.
The first time you get here there will be 3 white turrets and a
laser. Unless you are good you will die pretty fast on them, and you
will never see them again (aha). They only appear on your first
attempt of 5-2 for some reason.
So make your way past them, and pass two lasers, and you will come to
an interesting area with three ledges. I suggest first going through
the middle, then moving to the bottom row. Be careful of the two
vertical lasers when moving past them.
Ok, here is the hairiest part of this stage. Retaliations will be
coming at you here. Kill them and a large spread of a laser will come
your way. You will still be on the bottom, so duck the first on that
comes at you and jump up, duck the second one that comes your way, and
still be moving forward. There will be a wall in front of you and
a retaliation will be flying across the top, jump the laser that will
come at you from the one on the middle when it collides with the left
screen, and this way you can dodge the one from the top row.
Three more lasers in close proximity. Kill the vertical one, and
when you hit the floor, duck, or a laser will hit you. Move forward
a few steps and duck again. Go up on the ceiling and duck to
avoid being killed by the other laser. When it stops firing you can
outrun it by running so it moves off screen.
Next is a even more lasers and an 'A' powerup. This area is the
hardest in the area, because the amount of sprites onscreen makes the
time the lasers fire LONGER. Do not move until you SEE they
have stopped firing. Here you move to floor and duck as before, no
need to kill the double laser to your left, just move right until
they disappear off screen. With normal shot you can acquire the 'A'
but you will loose it immediately because of the lasers guarding
it. With 'G' it is very easy, just get to it and get out. I suggest
waiting for the laser wall to kill the horizontal laser before going
into the small hall leading out, otherwise you may die if you are too
slow, which would suck after getting this far.
5-3
Boss 5: Transvestial Being
Dif w/o PowerUp: * to *****
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to ****
Description: Like the Stock Market this guy is difficult.
He has three forms. The blue form which shoots bouncing
lasers. The red form which shoots bullets that shoot straight then home
on your location. The upper cannon shoots lasers that will move toward
you when they are perpendicular to you, and vice versa. The red form's
lasers have a section which they do not home directly at you, so they
may go ahead of you or behind you, which makes it hard to dodge since
you do not know exactly where they are going. The green form shoots out
large wide shots that can catch you if you are jumping at the wrong
time. Forms go in this order, blue, red, green. Then the boss will
move rapidly and change forms shooting double shots of whatever it did
through the first iteration. The red form is the most difficult to
dodge. If it appears directly horizontally to you reverse, gravity and
run away or move toward the boss. To kill it just keep shooting it.
A much easier way to defeat this boss is to get the Gravity
Fireball power, and jump in arcs hitting the boss. He changes forms
quickly, and if you have the 'A' powerup it is a great insurance if you
get hit. You can also use the gravity fireball glitch where you jump
just before hitting the ground to remain a fireball on one bounce. You
can kill him very quickly with this.
Easy way: Get it to the red form in the beginning and find the
area where the shots go behind and in front of you and place yourself
in between them, duck and wait a few minutes and it will time out and
die. Or place yourself almost off the floor/ceiling and duck, the red
form will be unable to harm you.
Recommended Powerup: Gravity Fireball and/or Armor
XIII. Level 6
The setup is similar to level 2, where the level wraps the top
and bottom together. However, here the screen does not center itself
on your character. The level is really cool, and a piece of cake
compared to level 4 and 5, so enjoy.
Stage 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xebCWTgkMEk&feature=related
6-1
Reverse gravity appropriately to bypass the two gravity furnaces
in the beginning.
A Shield powerup can be gotten easily here, and it does make this
level much easier than any other powerup. But you will want that
Powershot which comes to the right of the 'S'. Get past the gravity
furnace after the 'P' power.
Shoot down the two white turrets and continue past here to find a
gray ledge with a couple of red turrets, and an embedded white turret.
Kill/dodge past this minor resistance.
The next part will most likely kill you a few times. One at a
time two fish ships will quickly move across the screen and shoot at
you. Take your time and when they appear prepare to move out of the
way or shoot them down. The bottom half the screen works well for this.
And one final gravity furnace to move past brings you to 6-2.
6-2
Immediately there will be a gravity furnace so do not hold
forward or you will die.
After the furnace will an Armor power to the right of some spikes.
Jump over them and acquire the Armor and go past another furnace.
Now for the hard part of this level. There will be three white
turrets in a row all waiting to shoot at you. I suggest moving them off
screen to make sure you get the maximum time to move past them. When
they are off screen hold forward and jump on top of the ledge they are
embedded in. There will be a blue ledge above you. Jump onto that
quickly and you will dodge their bullets. Keep pressing forward and
fall back to the gray ledge again. You will need to watch out for one
more white turret that is inside the gray ledge. More blue ledges will
appear over the gray ledge with a red turret below them. Jump onto the
blue ledge briefly then jump onto one of the stacked blue ledges in
front of you.
A long blue ledge with red turrets on it spread evenly makes for
an easy route to follow. Keep pressing forward and firing to kill the
red turrets. Watch out for the fish ship, you will most likely have to
dodge at least one of its shots.
The final stretch for 6-2 contains a little maze. Orange colored
ledges with spikes on either the top or bottom have been placed here
with two gravity furnaces. Reverse gravity to walk on the ceiling if
you are not already. Move to the left of the orange ledge that has no
spikes on it. And "fall" up on a ledge that has spikes on the top.
Now you will be near the gravity furnace and the blue ledge. Jump
"down" without jumping into the spikes "above" you, and reverse gravity
to go onto the blue ledge. When you can move forward without touching
the furnace do so, and then quickly move forward and reverse gravity on
the next blue ledge. Otherwise you will die because the screen wrap
will move you into the bottom of the gravity you would be standing
above. Now you will be on the ceiling again. Walk underneath the
ledge with spikes on top, fall off, and then reverse gravity to land
on a blue ledge, or you will fall onto spikes.
Move forward to leave 6-2, and go to 6-3.
6-3
Boss 6: Alien Babies
Dif w/o PowerUp: ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: **
Description: Three boxes with an Alien Baby in it spin
around a room. The ceiling and floor has a multicolored beam that you
can occasionally avoid if you go into it and jump immediately. I
suggest staying on one box and reversing gravity as it moves around the
room to go to the bottom/top of the box as necessary. You can shoot
the Babies when a little slot opens up on their box. Without powershot
be prepared to shoot the last Baby a lot of times. This boss is prone
to killing you if you do not time the jumping correctly. You can hold
down with the shield and damage the Alien whenever it becomes
vulnerable.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor
IXX. Level 7
No powerups in the beginning. You will have to re-enter your
password to get the power you had when you beat stage 6.
I recommend killing the first four bosses with your power. Boss
5 can be timed out, and boss 6 is easy. 7-7 will be tough with no
power but it can and will be defeated(if you got this far you will NEED
to beat).
Stage 7 -
7-1 to 7-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4aQyVz1yGk&feature=user
7-7 and credits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjxn611-aQ&feature=user
7-7 - a faster way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5wmIKX7E0&feature=user
7-1
Boss 1: Peeping Tom
Dif w/o PowerUp: ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to **
Description: Has a weak point that peeps out from its three
holes. On Expert it shoots a roughly homing shot and normal shots that
do not home. Powershot destroys the homing shot. Shoot it when it
first pops out, then go to the upper right area, then to the left if
necessary. You will need to duck the shots that come at your head.
Beast Mangler: "Shoot up at the blue rings, and there's a somewhat
safe spot to the left or right of that central eye. So stay in that
area, and just move left to right to dodge the pink rings and shoot up
at the blue ones, or dodge them by moving to the side a bit, right
before its about to hit you. It should also mention in the guide that
the blue rings can be shot."
Timing out not recommended.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor
7-2
Boss 2: The Five Vomiting Faces
Dif w/o PowerUp: ** to ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: *
Description: Has five levels and each level is the shooting
area of one of the five faces. The faces Open up and fire forth a shot
for a few seconds. With Powershot simply hold down the fire button and
walk forward to kill the first face then position yourself so you can
shoot up and down to kill the faces when they open up.
Without Powershot you will need to continually fire at a face of
your choosing, without Powershot you will fail to kill any face without
jumping to avoid a shot. I go up, down, and then up again, and by then
the first starting face will die, then shoot up or down to kill.
An 'A' Powerup does not destroy a face.
Timing out is risky, because new faces will respawn.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot
7-3
Boss 3: The Sinner
Dif w/o PowerUp: *** to ****
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to ***
Description: This guy can be really tough. He is a floating
robot with two satellites that spin around him many times faster than
on normal. The stage is separated into four parts and the four parts
are guarded by slow moving lasers.
There are two ways to kill him easily. The first is to have the
'A' powerup, get hit but stay underneath him, shoot and kill. The
second is to time it EXACTLY and move in between the Expertly fast
satellites. To do this you stay in the initial position
and after it is closes up count '1' then move your character forward.
If you do it just right you can be underneath him and be invulnerable.
The second way is to have him follow you around the level. The boss
will 'close up' and be invulnerable whenever he is moving. Then he will
move into the 'square' you are occupying. His movements are timed,
so make sure you keep track of how long it is until he moves.
The best way to make sure you are not killed as soon as he enters your
square is to jump before he comes into your square and reverse
gravity.
Gravity Fireball can help a lot on this one, but you will have to
fight this guy again in 7-3, and unless you can beat multiple levels
without losing a continue, you will not get Gravity Fireball for it.
(oh yes, on level 7 there are NO powerups. But you can just put in the
password again).
Timing out is easy if you are underneath him, but why wait when
you can shoot? Otherwise timing-out is not recommended.
Recommended Powerup: Armor and/or Powershot
7-4
Boss 4: The Stock Market
Dif w/o PowerUp: *****
Dif w/ PowerUp: *** to ****
Description: I have a real hard time on this boss on Expert.
There is no consistent way to kill this guy. The lasers above and
below you move toward your position, they alternate shots then shoot
simultaneously. If you have Armor and are hit by a laser the bottom
laser turret will usually die. Above and below you are two guns that
can only be killed with Shield or Powershot. They take a massive
amount of hits on Expert, probably as much as the boss, so you may
want to rethink your strategy about killing them.
Follow the Market and keep shooting, depending on the position of
your character you could be trapped, so make sure to remember a route
that does not get you killed.
Gravity Fireball is effective but tricky on this boss.
**Easy Kill Glitch - If you get hit with Armor, when the Stock
Market touches the floor or ceiling it will
jitter along the ceiling/wall that it was on. Much easier than it
bouncing all over the place. A good location to make it jitter is right
near your spawn point for the boss. Just move a LITTLE bit to the left
and get hit with Armor.
**Death Glitch - Beast Mangler apparently 'grinded' into the boss
ASAP in the match and it DIED while he had an 'A' powerup. He said it
must be at an extremely specific time and place on the enemy, because
he never got it to work again. After an hour or two of trying I was
able to experience this glitch, so this thing is an extremely rare
occurance.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor,
7-5
Boss 5: Transvestial Being
Dif w/o PowerUp: * to *****
Dif w/ PowerUp: * to ****
Description: Like the Stock Market this guy is difficult.
He has three forms. The blue form which shoots bouncing
lasers. The red form which shoots bullets that shoot straight then home
on your location. The upper cannon shoots lasers that will move toward
you when they are perpendicular to you, and vice versa. The red form's
lasers have a section which they do not home directly at you, so they
may go ahead of you or behind you, which makes it hard to dodge since
you do not know exactly where they are going. The green form shoots out
large wide shots that can catch you if you are jumping at the wrong
time. Forms go in this order, blue, red, green. Then the boss will
move rapidly and change forms shooting double shots of whatever it did
through the first iteration. The red form is the most difficult to
dodge. If it appears directly horizontally to you reverse, gravity and
run away or move toward the boss. To kill it just keep shooting it.
A much easier way to defeat this boss is to get the Gravity
Fireball power, and jump in arcs hitting the boss. He changes forms
quickly, and if you have the 'A' powerup it is a great insurance if you
get hit. You can also use the gravity fireball glitch where you jump
just before hitting the ground to remain a fireball on one bounce. You
can kill him very quickly with this.
Easy way: Get it to the red form in the beginning and find the
area where the shots go behind and in front of you and place yourself
in between them, duck and wait a few minutes and it will time out and
die. Or place yourself almost off the floor/ceiling and duck, the red
form will be unable to harm you.
Recommended Powerup: Gravity Fireball and/or Armor
7-6
Boss 6: Alien Babies
Dif w/o PowerUp: ***
Dif w/ PowerUp: **
Description: Three boxes with an Alien Baby in it spin
around a room. The ceiling and floor has a multicolored beam that you
can occasionally avoid if you go into it and jump immediately. I
suggest staying on one box and reversing gravity as it moves around the
room to go to the bottom/top of the box as necessary. You can shoot
the Babies when a little slot opens up on their box. Without powershot
be prepared to shoot the last Baby a lot of times. This boss is prone
to killing you if you do not time the jumping correctly. You can hold
down with the shield and damage the Alien whenever it becomes
vulnerable.
Recommended Powerup: Powershot and/or Armor
7-7
The Giant Coaxial Cable.
On Normal this is a freebie. On Expert you have to dodge these
fireballs turrets in the background that fire at you. You cannot kill
the turrets, but you can avoid getting damaged from them in two ways.
The fireballs they fire have a strange damage range. I have fallen
through them multiple times and took no damage. Another way is to
stand directly in front of the turret. The shots will go left or right,
but will miss you. The placement of the character is a little tricky
but its not that bad.
The normal way to defeat this thing is to be on the left side of
the screen jumping, ducking, and/or switching gravity to kill it.
Every time you kill a pod the firing of the turrets increases. The
last turret is by far the hardest to kill. The chances of you getting
here with a powerup are a bit slim, meaning in one continue you would
have to defeat all the bosses. If you do get here with a power it can
be quite easy. Powershot is great, Gravity is great. Shield would
probably be the worst. Bumping into them with Armor does not harm the
pods.
The harder but faster way is to stand under the pod and shoot up.
If you place yourself correctly you will not be harmed by the shots,
until the third pod is destroyed and the turrets move from behind your
character. What I did was move immediately after the pod was destroyed
to cover the graphic of the turret again. Then jump and/or reversing
gravity to dodge the shots up close, while shooting the last one. To
learn the timing for this is very difficult, so I do not think this
method should be attempted first.
When it dies, you win. Watch the cool explosion, scream in
ecstasy, or hit something. Congratulations on beating one of the best
games for Nintendo it on EXPERT difficulty!
XX. Contributors / Videos
A. Contributors
Beast Mangler AKA WalkingBeast - Info, verification, on glitches, enemies and
strategies to beat enemies, some cool vids.
Mike J - for his alternate, easier method of jumping the 4th miniboss.
B. VIDEO LINKS!!
Stage 1-1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BqBDzF1YWI&feature=user
Stage 1-2 and 1-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGjmPfRa18
Stage 2
2-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_geqQj9Ro&feature=user
2-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxvcD8JNvA&feature=user
Stage 3 -
3-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wshz8dB8Fow&feature=user
3-2 & 3-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeB9OUyNqY&feature=user
Stage 3-2 //Beast Mangler's vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxw_nbFlj2Q&feature=related
Stage 4 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZduJHwTJxWY&feature=related
L4-Miniboss-jumping-trick---Expert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUFrvVs4udI
four-gun-walls-no-other-power-but-Armor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJhGcz2XE4&feature=user
Stage 5 -
5-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BmKnJndBek&feature=user
5-2 and 5-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-mzc0T_yLg&feature=related
5-3 - Using the Gravity Fireball Glitch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJeTygqGrs
Stage 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xebCWTgkMEk&feature=related
Stage 7 -
7-1 to 7-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4aQyVz1yGk&feature=user
7-7 and credits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjxn611-aQ&feature=user
7-7 - a faster way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5wmIKX7E0&feature=user
Just search " "metal storm" expert " and you will find them.
XI. Copyright January/10/2008 by Apathy000 aka Michael Zacka
This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or
otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission.
Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public
display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
Sites that have my permission to use this guide are gamefaqs.com
and neoseeker.com.
