In 2004 the GameFAQs FAQ Writing Community started a Master System Completion
Project for which I wrote fifteen different FAQs before I moved on to other
projects. My urge to cover more SMS FAQs however has never wavered and that is
why I'm back today in the newest SEGA Master System Completion Project which is
hosted on the FAQ Contributors - General Board. My newest target is Aerial
Assault, a side-scrolling shooter that earned its name from the fact that
Master System television aerials were known for their flimsy nature. It is a
fairly original way to name your game, which peaked my interest in the game. It
is my reason for writing this FAQ and I hope you'll enjoy it.
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2.1- Story [A201]
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Some years ago, an evil militaristic organisation known simply as the N.A.C.
developed a huge laser emitter, "EL", which was capable of gradually destroying
the ozone layer. This posed an ominous threat to all life on the planet, and
cast a shadow of fear stretching to the far corners of the Earth. In the year
1999, the N.A.C. began an all-out offensive against every country in the world.
Although initially, each nations Self-Defense forces valiantly stood their
ground against the most formidable adversaries, they eventually proved to be no
match for the sheer power and size of the enemy. However, just when all seemed
lost, the Freedom Fighter appeared on the scene. Not officially attached to any
one nation, it secretly sped off to clash with the unsuspecting enemy forces.
By destroying enemies you will often unleash power-ups which grant you extra
lives, weapons and bombs. If you are destroyed, you will lose your weapons and
bombs so you need to get the maximum out of each weapon and bomb before losing
it. Using the weapons is fairly easy, just keep your finger on the button. They
won't run out of bullets and usually allow for continuous fire. Most of the
weapons are stronger than regular bullets, but regular enemies are destroyed
by one shot anyway, so you don't need them for that. Their best ability is
usually the fact they shoot in multiple directions which is a handy quality to
destroy multiple jets at the same time. Weapons like the 3 Way and the 8 Way
burst should be cherished. The others are less necessary. The bombs on the
other hand are more destructive and should be used as good as possible. There
is only one problem: they are only useful against bigger enemies and end bosses
so try and save them for those enemies. You only have limited quantities of
them anyway, so it is extra important. The number of available bombs is placed
under the number of remaining lives.
At the start of the game you can chose between Easy, Normal and Hard difficulty
and I myself took Normal for this walkthrough. The experience on Hard isn't
that different. The experience on Easy is different though. You can't finish
the game on Easy, you won't reach the end so it is recommended to start on
Normal or Hard. Otherwise you can't save the world.
The first level starts off with a confrontation with several jets which come in
at different heights. The first set of red jets pose no challenge as they can
only kill you by hitting you and they fly in a straight line. Surviving them is
as easy as going up or down. After a while green and black jets will appear who
fly in a jagged line, but they are still easy to shoot down as their path is
very predictable. Just keep your hands on the firing button and everything will
be okay. The first challenge are the fearsome red jets that spin around their
axis. They fly a bit faster so the chance is higher that they you when you
swerve to hit them. In this level, you do need to take risks because they will
often unleash power-ups. After facing a couple of those jets the newest jets
will start firing pink bullets at you. Those planes are easy to destroy so you
will survive. We have a bigger problem in the form of turrets on the ground,
they fire rapidly and are difficult to destroy because of their low position.
A bit further an extra obstacle is introduced with boats who also fire at you.
At first you will only encounter small boats, but soon after you will meet
bigger boats who will also fire straight up and backwards. Here you need to
realize that you can also fly forward and backward to better avoid the bullets.
When you pass over the second big boat, you will encounter a threesome of slow
flying humongous jets that don't fire bullets, but will require multiple bullet
rains. Afterwards the game introduces submarines that are only vulnerable when
they are above the water. As long as you manage to avoid their bullets, the
level won't pose any problems until you encounter the first boss. It is a huge
battleship with turrets. You need to destroy all turrets to destroy the boat.
While confronting the ship multiple jets will appear, making it a little bit
more challenging.
In Round 2 you need to destroy the CB-53, one of the secret weapons of the
enemy, but it won't be an easy victory. The game warns you about the enemy
appearing from unexpected places and they are right. It starts off with rockets
spawning from the sea while the level gets ominously darker. Once the first
part of the level is over, you will be surprised by a huge number of planes
who appear from the bottom and the right. They will yield a lot of power-ups so
you won't be having any problems here. At one point the sky changes from purple
to black, which is the moment a huge purple jet appears. It shoots five bullets
at you at once each time it fires, which requires you to stay as far left as
possible and slip between the bullets. You don't need to destroy it to advance
though, so don't worry.
The next part of the level brings a more unpleasant surprise, bombs that appear
from behind of you without any warning. Try to stay in the middle of the screen
to see them coming after which you can circle behind them. Meanwhile, don't
forget to watch out for the jets coming from the right. This is a hectic
sequence which is followed by rockets coming from the sea again. They start
appearing closer to you and more frequently, so stay as far left and low as
possible while continuously firing. Stick to this strategy and only leave this
spot when in danger from the jets. At this point, the level gets even more
fun with thunder bolts that can destroy you in one hit. It lightens up the sky
a bit, but it makes everything incredibly dangerous.
Once the lightning stops you will see rockets from behind again, while being
assaulted from the front by jets. By the time both of them stop, you will see
the CB-5. Hint: it is that huge green thing filling your entire screen and
spewing bullets and rockets at you. You can't fly above it, you can't fly under
it to hit the blue motors. What you need to do is: destroy the complete back
of the plane. Go up and destroy the top of the plane. Once you have done that,
a turret at the front of the plane will start up and now you can reach it from
the top. Fly there and destroy it. You are safe from the rockets here, so you
only have to worry about the enemy bullets. After destroying this turret, you
can swoop underneath and start firing at the rocket launcher and the last
turret. Both need to be destroyed to completely destroy the CB-53 and finish.
The third level is a little bit more cheerful again with the green grass and
the white clouds in the blue sky. It also brings a couple of novelties like
tanks who fire bullets or rockets, and more agile jets. The jets can be easily
avoided by going forward, but the tanks are a huge problem. Their rockets will
follow you so destroy them as fast as possible. Sometimes you will also see
helicopters appear. The little red helicopters will give you power-ups if shot
down, while the big green helicopter leave mines on your path and can fire at
you. At one point you will see little parachutes coming from the top of the
screen - which carry little mines - and a huge base at the bottom. First things
is first: weave between the parachutes and try to shoot them down. You can't
target the base from here unless you can use bombs, but don't worry. Avoiding
the bullets shouldn't be a problem.
The next part of the level brings a bigger helicopter that shoots rockets. Try
and position yourself directly in front of the helicopter and unleash your
bullets. Only leave this spot for any jets. Once the helicopter is destroyed,
the parachutes return. This time it won't be possible to fly above them because
an invisible turret shoots at you there. Try to seek the gaps while flying in
the middle half until the red helicopters start appearing again. Pick up their
power-ups and quickly destroy the tanks at the bottom. Fly up again for the
green helicopters and a couple of jets. They are followed by another big
helicopter. A short bit later the parachutes - with invisible turret - return
but try to fly at the top for a couple of seconds each time to best destroy
them.
Once this bit is over, you get peace and quiet. There are no enemies until you
reach a giant battle fortress. It has five regular turrets that mostly fire
straight and one turret that fires fireballs in any direction. Fly straight in
front of a turret and go up once a wave of bullets reaches you. Repeat this
process till they are destroyed. If the top four are destroyed, you can easily
target the bottom ones. Don't be surprised however when a new set of turret
opens up. You have two regular turrets that surround a fireball turret. The
level will end once these turrets are destroyed and you can dive into the
fortress, which starts Round 4.
Your goal in Round 4 is the destruction of El; the huge laser emitter which is
located inside the fortress of N.A.C. This introduces a new gameplay concept,
namely rocks at the top of the screen. This makes your movement space a little
bit smaller. Aside from regular jets you'll also encounter turrets at the top
and bottom of the screen. The ones at the bottom are stronger than in previous
levels, but you should be able to handle them. The ones at the top are a bit
more challenging because they drop missiles on you. Destroy the gate you come
across and inside destroy every plate coming your way. If they hit you, they
will kill you and you can't avoid them. Once you get past this phase, you start
encountering mechanical animals like frogs and hummingbirds. Their movement is
unpredictable which makes them more dangerous. Afterwards even Terminator-like
giant robots start appearing. I'm only wondering why they are making giant
robots that can be destroyed by a single bullet from a jet.
After passing a machine that keeps making and dropping these Terminators, you
reach a more challenging area with a lot of turrets and where you need to
navigate small tunnels. Destroy the turrets as fast as possible and choose the
top tunnel. Once you have passed this area, you reach a big room with a giant,
weird and fast moving apparatus. This shoots big lasers and bullets making it
very dangerous. Aim for the top from where the lasers leave, while avoiding the
enemy fire to destroy it. At this point you will end up in another tunnel area
where you need to make a lot of maneuvers to reach another big hall. Here you
can witness the stupidity of the AI that self-destructs by flying into a wall.
Don't get distracted though because there are still enough enemies that can
attack you including a lot of rocket turrets and Terminators.
You end up in a new hallway where you're confronted by a couple of enemies and
walls. At this point the stupid hummingbirds will return, but despite their
suicidal tendencies they pose a real threat because it is difficult to avoid
their fire in the narrow halls. Following a passage in a big hall you end up in
a small passage again. There are no enemies, but it is quite challenging to
navigate. Stay at the start of the screen and go up/down when you can because
that usually means you'll hit a wall if you don't. In the end you reach a big
laser, the EL which fires bullets, lasers, fireballs and a wall of lightning.
Aim for the center red dot first, mainly because the wall of lightning stops
you from doing otherwise most of the time. It will take a lot of damage to
destroy it, but it makes life a bit easier as you don't need to worry about
the fire balls anymore. Now focus on the turrets at the top because they can
fire diagonally. Once both have been taken down, you reveal a new turret that
fires three bullet at a time. Fly through these bullets and destroy it. Now go
completely down and focus on the little turret at the bottom and not on the
giant laser. That laser is your 'last' target. Take it out and receive a nasty
surprise: another one appears. You will need to destroy another three targets
to finally subdue the machine.
In Round 5 we travel to outer space to destroy the last fortress N.A.C. has to
protect its reputation. Aside from the fortress they also have a lot of regular
spaceships so it won't be a pushover. They mostly act like regular jets, but
they are faster and can also appear from behind. Luckily they only spawn at the
top if they are coming from behind. So don't stick to the back of the screen if
you go up. Eventually you end up in an asteroid field. Stick to the back of the
screen and don't let go of the button until the enemies appear again. Once the
next sets of enemies have passed, we encounter the first boss of this level in
a bit of empty space.
This mini-boss has a vertical wall like structure with three turrets that keep
firing at you. Occasionally this structure will move forward, but if you stay
close to the back you won't get hit. Take out both ends first and then focus
on the middle. By staying close to its bullet trajectory you should be able to
hit it and take it down fairly easy. After a bit of empty space you end up
facing new waves of spaceships, but they don't bring anything new to the game.
The path to the last boss should feel fairly familiar, except for the green
flashes which are the 'space' equivalent of thunder. Get hit and you are killed
so stay low and avoid it.
Eventually you reach the last boss, which is a huge spaceship which produces
small purple spaceships at the bottom. I try to focus on this part of the ship
when the spaceship is fully visible. Otherwise I focus on the turrets on the
top. Once the bottom turrets have been destroyed, I switch over to the turrets
on the top behind moving structure at the front. Once that one is destroyed,
the boss is destroyed and the game ends. You don't need to hit the red button
on the front. That one is just for show. Enjoy the ending movie and try again
for a higher score.
