•Platform > Playstation2
•Version > 0.9
•Created > 07.23.01
•Updated > 08.07.01
•By > D. Engel [d0wner]
•Contact > d0wner451 at
hotmail dot com
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Table of Contents
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01> Intro
02> Weapons
03> Scoring
04> Boss Strategy
05> Cheat
06> Mini-Review
07> Outro
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01> Intro
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Silpheed is the latest release from our beloved Working Designs,
whose games, as you may know, go to 11. This one goes to maybe 8
or so, but is worth playing nonetheless. It is developed by Game
Arts, with a little help from Treasure. Although made for
Playstation2, the gameplay remains very faithful to the original -
none of those damn "powerups" or screen-clearing bombs. You kill
stuff, you get points. Don't be talking any of that "innovation"
nonsense either - we don't want to hear it. This is the way games
should be played, with two buttons and a D-pad. Bliss.
Game Story (straight from the manual):
More than five centuries have passed since mankind first ventured
into space. Although there has been suffering from occasional
civil wars and unrest, mankind now prizes its peace and
prosperity. The planet Solont, located near the center of the
galaxy, is the 11th world the be colonized by man, and it is about
to be visited by a new and unknown life form. 31 years after the
Zakarite Civil War, mankind is about to confront a new threat - a
threat from the darkest corner of the universe. The future of the
human race now rests in the weary hands of the Silpheed Squadron,
made up of the most skilled starfighter pilots in the Federation
of Planetary Space Forces (FPSF). Every pilot in the group of
space aces files the Silpheed Type J, which boasts a defensive
shield and two huge weapon racks for an incomparable combination
of flexibility and power.
__________________________________________________________________
The above paragraph is copyright 2000 Working Designs. See Outro
for more information.
You get two guns in Silpheed: TLP, cleverly placed on the wings of
your ship. At the start of each stage and when you refuel in the
middle, you are given a choice of which guns to mount. You start
the game with the first two, the others are unlocked by reaching
certain point scores. Here is a run down of your arsenal:
Vulcan - typical pea shooter. Fires small shots in a straight
line. You should never have a need for this.
Vvulcan - fires two shots in a "V" formation. This is your gun
of choice for the first stage.
Optics Laser - fires a long, powerful beam in a straight line.
While it does pack a bit of a punch, its nothing like the
power of the Napalm Bomb. Its advantage is as a long
range weapon, and it does work well for beginners who
want to stay safe and avoid close range combat.
Napalm Bomb - three clusters of two bombs each are dropped in a
triangular formation, one front left, one front right,
and one straight behind you. By far the most powerful
weapon in the game, it cripples enemies and bosses alike.
Also helps in getting those high multiplier scores, since
it forces you to fight close range. Requires that you
have good knowledge of enemy patterns to stay alive. Not
recommended for beginners.
7 Type Beam - fires a large, powerful and slow-moving shot, which
you control with the D-pad or analog stick. Yup, the
one you use to control your ship. Meaning if you want
the ship to go one way and the shot to go another - well,
tough. Not as powerful as it would need to be for it to
be useful, and hard to control.
Falsion Wiper - otherwise known as the windshield wiper. A
constant beam extends from your ship and can be moved
from the front of the ship to the side (..and back again)
using the D-pad or analog stick. In theory, this joke of
a weapon might cause your enemy to break uncontrollably
into hysterics, allowing you an easy kill. In practice,
you get no such luck, making it essentially worthless.
Star Bow - similar to a gatling gun. Starts slowly and picks up
speed as the button is held. At full speed, which is
reached after a few seconds, each cannon fires a burst of
four shots. They fire not quite in a straight line but
in a random scatter pattern in front of the ship. Looks
cool, but not powerful enough to be useful.
Plasma Ball - charges up for a second and then releases a large,
slow moving purple energy ball about the size of your
ship. Each cannon fires a little faster than one per
second, with a max of three shots on screen at once.
The Plasma Ball will continue to damage any enemy it hits
until it dissipates, so it can take out a line of small
enemies or do a number of hits to a larger enemy. They
move slightly outwards as they travel across the screen,
at about a fifteen degree angle. Possible the second
strongest weapon next to Napalm, and has the long
distance advantage.
Thunder Arrow - when the button is pressed, four orbs extend out
to the side of the ship. When the button is released,
they each fire a fast moving bolt which will damage,
though not necessarily kill, any number of enemies in its
path. The longer the button is held the farther the orbs
extend, so the four shots can be fired in a tight
formation immediately, or you can wait a second and space
them out. If the orbs contact anything before being
fired, they are destroyed. Another weapon that seems
cool at first, but isn't practical.
The vast majority of your points in Silpheed: TLP will come from
shooting down enemy ships. Each time you shoot down an enemy, a
number with an X in front of it will popup. This number is the
mega-rate multiplier, and it tells you what that enemies' point
value was multiplied by. The multiplier is determined by your
distance from the enemy when you destroyed it, the closer you are
the higher the number. So, for instance, if you shoot down an
enemy worth 1000 points from a good distance you might get x2,
making the total score for that enemy 2000 points. If you shoot
down the same enemy from point blank you will get x16 (the highest
possible), making the total score 16000 points.
You get bonuses points in two categories at the end of each stage:
Shot Bonus and Formation Bonus. The Shot Bonus, I believe, is
based on how many high multiplier scores you have. Formation
Bonus is racked up by destroying an entire formation of enemies,
such as six enemies flying in a line.
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04> Boss Strategy
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•Stage 1 Midboss
Pretty Simple. The boss will shoot two green orbs at a time from
the small arm underneath him. These orbs will track you a bit,
but are easy to avoid. When you see a green cloud release from
the big arm above it is about to come crashing down. Move to the
right or left to avoid it - note that you cannot hit the walls on
the side here. The blue shots released by the arm when it drops
can be shot for a few points. Either arm can also be destroyed
separately from the boss if you do enough damage to them.
•Stage 1 Boss
When the fight starts, immediately get right in his face with your
Vvulcans blasting. You should be able to destroy the front
section without taking any damage. After it is gone, fall back.
The boss will fire blue/black orbs which will move to your ship's
horizontal position, then flash and move sideways towards you.
After you destroy the second section the boss will fire a dense
wave of shots from both turrets - move all the way back to easily
avoid these. Another strategy, if you have extra shields, is to
setup camp right in front of him and blast away. After this the
boss moves to the left side of the screen and then barrel rolls
across, shooting large, slow moving pink shots at you. This is a
good time to move in for the kill, if you have been shooting
non-stop he will be nearly dead by now. If you let him live past
this point, he moves to the front of the screen and starts firing,
meaning you have to fight backwards, which is no fun.
•Stage 2 Midboss A
After three quick waves of enemies, the first Midboss approaches
you. He can take very little damage - start dropping Napalm as
he is rising and you will take out many of his arms as soon as
he surfaces. Then just fire Napalm in his face and he should go
down before getting a chance to return fire. If he starts
charging a shot he is about to fire two bolts of lightning, stop
shooting for a second and dodge them, then get back to work.
•Stage 2 Midboss B
This boss is a two headed serpent type thing - both heads, as well
as each section of its body, can be destroyed separately. It will
first enter the screen flying very slowly. Stay just to the right
of its flight path, and using Napalm, you can cripple the boss
before it gets a shot off. Just stay in close for a sweet x16.
•Stage 2 Boss
For the first 15 seconds or so of this fight, the boss won't even
attack. What he will do is fly backwards quickly and knock down
the stone pillars, the pieces of which can damage your ship. Be
aware of where they fall while constantly shooting him. When he
flies straight back for a few seconds he is preparing to attack.
At this point you want to be off to the side and not in front of
him, as a wave of lava will rise up down the middle of the screen.
He will continue the same two attacks, firing a light group of
shot and the lava wave, until you take him down.
•Stage 3 Midboss
There isn't one.
•Stage 3 Boss
The boss for this stage is...well, a large alien tire. When he
starts firing, weave in-between the shots instead of trying to
stay between the two rows of fire. Note that shooting the tire
tread doesn't do any damage, you have to shoot the rim (inside).
Next he fires some of those slow moving, tracking green shots.
You should probably avoid them. Stay back at this part, as he
will soon spin around and will it you if you are in close. Next
comes the fun part. The tire will begin to drop large bombs to
the right and left, and shoot a hail of bullets forward. The
bullets can be destroyed, so stay right in their path and keep
firing. Keep in mind that you need to hit the inside to damage
him, so cautiously move between the boss and the blue explosions
so take him out, or you can just wait for him to turn and give
you a clean shot.
•Stage 4 Midboss
None. You would think that with just 6 stages in the game, the
developers wouldn't find it necessary to make one level out of
recycled Midbosses and enemies from other stages, over a simple
looping background. Never the less, that is what makes up this
stage. Refer to previous sections for strategy.
•Stage 4 Boss
The boss of this stage starts after you refuel. The support
vehicle is infected by those malicious aliens and attacks you.
First take care of the thrusters - if they fire shots they can be
destroyed, but if it shoots blue flame step clear. If you see a
green charge on the sides of the ship, it is about to fire six
fast moving shots which will track you, stay on your toes. A blue
charge in the center means it is getting ready to fire a large
beam in a straight line. After the ship is destroyed the head
will break away to fight you solo. He starts by flying across the
screen directly toward you a few times - survey says you should
keep moving to avoid him. Once he stays put his attacks are
simple - either four green shots which track you, or four blue
shots which move in a straight line.
•Stage 5 Midboss
Right when this boss shows up he will fire off some quick moving
shots, so be ready. After this comes the following attacks, in
random order. A hail of shot that look like rose petals - these
are hard to avoid from any point, so stay sharp. The turrets on
the outside of the wings fire blue and yellow shots, the blue ones
can be destroyed completely while the yellow ones erupt into
smaller shots when destroyed. The outside turrets also shoot a
gren beam forward - concentrate on destroying them first. Once
they are gone a second weaker turret will appear in the same spot,
they take very little damage. After that you can damage the core,
front and center. Fire away.
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05> Cheat
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Notice the singular. There is exactly one cheat in Silpheed: TLP,
which will unlock all nine weapons from the very start. In my
opinion, this is utterly worthless, because the Vvulcan works very
well for the first stage, and by the second stage you should have
the Useful Weapon, Napalm, unlocked. However, should you feel the
need, it is provided here for your guilty pleasure. Enter it as
your code name when you start the game. The code differs
depending on which version you have:
Japanese version: XACALITE
White Man's version: GLOIRE
And here, for your enjoyment, we have a little mini-review thing.
It is not written by me, it was posted to the GameFAQs message
board for this game by a guy named Folken. This guy pretty much
tells it how it is about the game, and does it better than I could
have. It is used without permission, because I was unable to
contact the author. So before proceeding any further, I want you
to say out loud, "I respect the Folken." Ok, now read it.
This PS2 version is a barebones reflex affair. That is what you
are paying for with your $50. Gone from the Sega CD version are
the pickups (Health, Immunity, Clear screen, !!option weapon
buildup!!, etc...) Gone is the ultra useful and strategic 3rd
Option weapon choices (Select to use a barrier shield, or a
Proton Bomb, or fire off homing missiles to anything on screen,
a complete separate element of play to the standard weapons you
choose. There was a HUGE strategic value to this choice for each
level as well as when you use them!)
Under those pretty visuals in the PS2 version is a very brainless
dodge fest. Only a small amount of the weapon choices are
actually useful, and you never really feel truly overpowering
because all you can do is hold down X and let loose the continual
stream of fire with no strategic value other than avoid being
hit! No depth to the level designs other than their pretty 3D
graphics. Why didn't they take advantage of the 3D and meld it
better into gameplay? Even the Sega CD's FMV backgrounds did a
far better job of melding themselves into gameplay. The
backgrounds should be as much of an enemy as the forces firing
at you! It needs far more interaction with the player instead of
just being pretty looking. Those buildings that fall in Stage 2
should be arranged in locations where you are forced to actually
maneuver and dodge them, as well as trying to avoid enemy fire!
BAH! Get some real level designs and enemy placement here.
This is one poor shooter experience, but for those looking for a
simple experience involving dodging and shooting and going for a
nice high score, then Silpheed fits the bill. Once a truly
challenging and engaging shooter experience has turned into an
ultra generic visual feast where the gameplay was an afterthought
compared to the effort the design team made on the visuals and
expensive CG's. The priorities are all wrong here, and while it
can be looked upon as enjoyable (simply because it is so generic
and easy to jump in, good for the "casual" shooter players) it
is an insult to true shooter enthusiasts. This is NOT what the
future of shooter design should entail, and is a de-evolution on
the creativity and unique ideas that have been brought to the
table over the years.
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07> Outro
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[Version History]
•version 0.9, 08.07.01 - first published version. All that is
missing is the last few boss strategies, after that it will
be finished.
[Copyright Buisness]
This guide is free for any form of private use. Print it out,
make origami cranes out of it, use it for a deed rag, whatever.
You may not use this guide or any portion of it for any profit
making purposes whatsoever, including publication in any print
medium, use as promotional material, or even posting it online
with a banner above it. If you would like to post this guide
on your site, email the author and permission will very likely
be granted. If you would like to use any portion of this guide
in your own work, again, email the author first. Do not let the
author find this guide on your site without permission.
The name Silpheed is copyright, um, probably Game Arts and Working
Designs. Just guessing.
The 'Game Story' section is taken from the Silpheed manual and is
copyright 2000 Working Designs.
The Mini-Review is copyright Folken.
[Props]
Thanks to Treasure, Game Arts, and Working Designs, for wasting
my time and money.
Thanks to CJayC for hosting the documentation of my wasted time
and money. Very kind indeed.
Thanks to anyone who writes me an email who can spell and/or form
a coherent sentence.
No thanks to SCEA for delaying the release of this game (supposed
to be at PS2 launch), causing me to buy Midnight Club, which made
buying this game look like a stellar investment.
[Contact]
email> d0wner451 at hotmail dot com
PSO> SavageHenry / feiticeira
