Welcome to my twenty-second guide without a co-author.
I started playing this game for the SMS Completion Project and enjoyed it
enough to decide writing for it. I enjoyed the concept of a game where your
primary mission is to rescue people instead of kill them. There are few games
that I can remember where this was your mission and I would recommend anyone to
try this challenging game for themselves.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this guide and the game as much as I enjoyed writing
the guide and playing the game.
The objective of the game is to rescue a set number of hostages before the time
runs out. Excluding round 3, you need to rescue 8 hostages. Round 3 requires
that you only rescue 7 hostages. The time limit should not worry you, as it
provides you with more than enough time to rescue the required number of
hostages.
To rescue a hostage, you can either lower a rope ladder and get them to climb
aboard or to land the helicopter near the hostages and wait for them to climb
into the helicopter. Lowering the rope ladder can be the only choice with some
rescues and should be used when you only need to rescue a single person on a
flat ledge. You should only think of using the landing method to rescue any
hostages if you are looking to rescue 2 or 3 hostages near each other on a flat
ledge, or you are just wasting time.
NORMAL PLAYING FIELD
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Directional Buttons (normal playing field) = Moves the helicopter around
Button 1 (while flying) = Fires selected weapon
Button 2 (while flying) = Lowers/Raises Rope Ladder
WEAPONS MENU
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Buttons 1/2 (landed at starting point) = Brings up Weapons Menu
Direction Buttons (Weapons menu) = Scrolls through the weapons
Buttons 1/2 (Weapons menu) = Select
There are 4 weapons that you can select during the game.
MACHINE GUN (TOP-LEFT)
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This gun will fire bullets out in a straight line, where the helicopter is
pointing at. Most of the time, this gun will be the preferred choice, as it
allows a more accurate aim than the others. It can not be used to attack any
enemies above or below your own position, though.
SHOTGUN (TOP-RIGHT)
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This gun will fire a missile that will take a diagonal line down until it hits
either an enemy or the ground. This weapon should be used if you need to deal
with some enemies that you can not get with the machine gun, although this is
generally selected automatically whenever you need to use it.
WATER MISSILE (BOTTOM-RIGHT)
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Only use for this weapon is to put out fires during round 2. It can not harm
any enemy. The missile fired from this weapon will shoot out in front of your
helicopter and then quickly change direction to fall to the ground or onto some
flames.
GREEN BOMB (BOTTOM-RIGHT)
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I have tried to find out what this weapon can do, to no avail. It seems to be
useless against fire, enemy infantry and enemy helicopters. The missile this
weapon drops is the same as Water Missile.
Unless there is a note, this guide has been designed to explain how to rescue a
single batch of hostages with every paragraph. I recommend that you pause the
game and read the next paragraph after you have taken a batch of hostages to
safety.
I played this game and wrote this guide for the Hard difficulty. Within this
difficulty, you had 5 continues and 4 lives, gaining an extra life whenever you
cleared a round. Unless specified, I recommend that you keep the weapon that
is selected by default at the beginning of each round.
Fly all the way to the top of the screen and then travel to the right until you
are between a monorail and a castle. Drop down through the gap and you will
arrive in an underground tunnel. There are 2 hostages on the left side of this
cave, with an enemy with a gun in the middle. You can attempt to kill the
enemy while going to get the hostages and getting out of the tunnel. Head back
to the starting point to drop off the hostages you picked up.
Again, fly to the top of the screen and then travel to the right. This time,
you want to pass over the monorail and come to a ferris wheel. To the left of
the ferris wheel is a gun-holding enemy that you need to kill before you rescue
any hostages. There are 3 hostages on the ferris wheel for you to collect (you
will not be able to hold more). To get these hostages, stay at the top of the
screen, lower your rope ladder, position the helicopter above a hostage and
lower the helicopter until the hostage has grabbed onto the ladder. Repeat the
process for the other 2 hostages left on the ferris wheel and then head back to
the starting point to unload all 3 hostages.
Once the hostages have been dropped off, head past the ferris wheel to where
the enemy with the gun was positioned. There is a hostage on this ledge and
another 2 hostages in a gap to your left. Collect all 3 of them and head back
to the starting position to complete this level.
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02B) Round 2 - Fire Storm [AR02B]
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Fly to the left and head up when you come to a hostage surrounded by flames.
Use your weapon to put out the fire above the hostage and then rescue him.
There are another 2 hostages just above you to rescue. Lower your helicopter
to the bottom-left corner to reach the starting point.
Change your weapon to the machine gun (top-left corner) and fly higher. Save
the hostage that you will come to, then head to the left a bit to find another
2 hostages to rescue. Head to the right side of the building and then fall
down to the rescue centre.
Fly up to the start of a heavy smoke cloud coming from the top of the building.
Be careful of an enemy helicopter while you rescue 2 hostages that you should
be able to reach with ease. You only need 2 hostages, but you can lower your
helicopter down the middle of the building to find another hostage to rescue
before dropping off the people you rescued.
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02C) Round 3 - Count Down [AR02C]
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To the left is a damaged airplane. You want to fly as close to the top of this
airplane as possible to avoid an eletric ball above and to shoot 2 enemies that
are camping on the airplane. When the airplane ends, you want to get to the
left side of a tank that will be below your current position. After this has
been achieved, turn around, lower your helicopter to the ground and shoot the
tank before attempting to rescue the 2 hostages guarded by the tank. Fly up
and turn to the left, only stopping when you are level with an infantry enemy
that you want to kill. Head back to the starting postition.
Fly to the top of the screen and fly to the left. Once you get over a satelite
dish, keeping heading to the left until you are past some missles that are shot
up to the sky. Lower the helicopter to the ground near where the missiles were
being shot up to the sky and destroy a green tube that fired the missiles.
Rescue the 2 hostages on the ground and another hostage on a higher ledge on
the left. Head back to the safety shack.
Again, fly to the top of the screen and then to the left. Once you get to the
higher ledge where you rescued a single hostage, be careful as you fly over
another missle launcher. Watch out for an electric ball when you get past the
missle launcher as you lower the helicopter to destroy the launcher and rescue
2 hostages. Head to the left and get past a final missile launcher. Again,
you want to destroy the launcher before you start a rescue of 1 hostage (as you
can only carry 3 at a time). Once you have the hostage rescued and the missle
launcher destroyed, fly back to the starting position to unload the hostages.
Fly up to the screen and then head to the left to avoid a barrage of missles.
When you see a couple of hostages, start lowering your helicopter. There are a
couple of hostages in front of the higher set of hostages, then destroy the
turret to your right. Rescue 1 of 2 hostages to the right and then destroy the
2 other turrets to your right. With 3 hostages in your helicopter, fly up and
then head to the right. When you see an an airplane, lower the helicopter to
the starting postition.
Again, fly up and to the left until you reach the hostages that you can see
without having to lower the helicopter. Now you want to lower the helicopter
and grab a hostage on the right. Quickly fly to the right while shooting your
missiles to the ground, hopefully killing the 2 enemy infantry on this boat
(but, more importantly, killing the trooper on the left and getting away from
the heat-seeking missiles). Head back to where the enemy infantry were and
rescue the 2 hostages here. The safest way back to the rescue ship is flying
to the top of the screen and then head to the right, like before.
Finally, you want to fly as high as possible and to the left until you spot the
hostages we keep leaving behind. Save the 2 hostages here (although you will
only need 1 of them) and take them back the same way as the other rescued
hostages.
NOTE: Before beginning this round, I would like to warn you to be patient.
I have been killed several times trying to rush through this level.
The tight tunnels that you have to travel through in this level makes it
hard to get any speed to complete the level quickly, anyway.
Start by flying to the left side of the screen and you should come across a
hole that opens and closes. Position your helicopter in the middle of the gap
and lower it down when the hole is as open as possible. I recommend leaving
the hostages to your right to be rescued last, as they are the easiest to save.
Anyway, lower the helicopter down and head to the right when you can. To make
sure you have a safe trip back, use your weapons to destroy the 3 gun turrets
to your left before going futher down the tunnels. Once near the bottom,
destroy another set of turrets in the left corner. There are also 2 hostages
on the ground here to rescue. CAREFULLY head back up through the tunnels and
the hole to get to the starting point.
Change your weapon to the machine gun (top-left gun). Fly through the hole and
keep decending downwards, past the hostages on the right. When you can, take a
tunnel to the right. After the ceiling dips down a bit, there will be a turret
nearby. The best way I found to get past this turret is to fly as fast as
possible over it, then slow the helicopter down as I try to go through a big
hole. Within this hole are 3 hostages. When you want to get out of this hole,
align yourself level with the turrets on the right and destroy them with the
machine gun you selected, then turn to the left and perform the same task on
these turrets. You should be able to safely and CAREFULLY return to the start
of the level.
Finally, head through the hole again and rescue the 3 hostages that you kept
going past. You can land on the flat ground near the underground building and
wait for the hostages to walk into the helicopter to be rescued. You should
know how to get through the hole and to the starting point by now, so make sure
you do not mess it up.
Everyone on the FAQ Contribution General Board for help with improving my
guides and starting up the SMS and NES Completion Projects. Please check out
board 2000094 to see the latest Completion Projects and see how you could help
them out.
