Earth has been invaded by an army of alien forces, along with military support
from countries who have accepted their alien rulership. Pilots Jane and Mark
lead the resistance with new state of the art space capable fighter planes,
along with the best weapon systems Earth has to offer. Destroy the enemy
countries airforce, army, and navy then eliminate their alien masters in
space and at the Moon. Destroy the mothership.
Strike Gunner is an overhead shooter where you pick your special weapon for
each stage, and can't use the same one again. The Options menu allows you stage
select up to stage 4 and set the number of lives from 3-9. There are 4 levels
of difficulty, which hinder your normal fire and enemies will be faster. You
also get 5 credit continues, but in Strike Gunner you tend to either never die
and keep weapon upgrades or always die. When you die, your normal weapon goes
back to it's minimum level.
WEAPON SYSTEMS Class Energy Range Power Speed Effect / Other info
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Plasma Shield 1st Low Negates all enemy fire enemies and obstacles
Comrade Fighter 2nd High 2 Adjacent Fighters - triple normal shot
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Homing Missile 3rd Low Single Weak Slow prioritizes missiles
Atomic Missile 1st Medium Single Extreme Slow destroys enemy fire
Spray Missile 2nd Low 2 Wide Weak Slow Rapid Fire. Wide Arc
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Laser Cannon 1st Low Single High Medium Rapid fire. Strong
MegaBeam Cannon 1st ALL Medium Extreme Fast Moves with you 3 sec.
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Anti Air Mine 3rd Low 6 Short Weak Slow Close range. 4 Second
Adhesive Bomb 3rd Low 4 Single Weak Medium Delayed weak explosive
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Heat Arrow 2nd Low 3 Omni Weak Average Rapidfire All Angles
Photon Torpedo 3rd Low Wide 4 Weak Medium Difficult to aim/use
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Sonic Wave 1st Medium All Weak Instant Destroys enemy fire
Sonic Shooter 2nd Low Single Weak Average Destroys enemy fire
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Heavy Vulcan 3rd Low 3 Single Weak Average same as normal weapon
Auto Aim Vulcan 2nd Low 2 Any Weak Medium Rapid fire on enemies
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* Numbers next to Low indicate number of uses per charge of energy. Medium
Energy weapons can be used 12 times. Comrade Fighters can be summoned 8 times.
There are five 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class weapons. 3rd class weapons are not
recommended. The worst weapon is Heavy Vulcan. There is no advantage to using
it in ANY situation. It's the same as having one extra stream of red fire power.
Photon Torpedos are a wide blast of 4 deployed in the opposite of whatever
direction you are moving in. These are tricky to use, weak, and inferior
compared to Heat Arrow and Sonic Wave.
Anti-Air mines are useful for controlling both sides of the screen, but their
range is short, making them hard to deploy at the top of the screen. Homing
Missiles are slow and prioritize enemy missiles above enemies. They are bad
against bosses, and useful for destroying enemies on the sides and rear, but
not as useful as other weapons.
Sonic Wave and Sonic Shooter destroy most types of enemy weapon fire.
Sonic Shooter is the only good weapon choice for the final boss if you have
already used atomic missiles, unfortunately it is not rapid fire, and really
needs to be.
Plasma Shield is good, but it leaves you with normal fire as your only weapon.
This is the default choice if you run out of time selecting a weapon, or if you
accidentally select it when advancing from the previous screen. Try to save it
for the last stage.
BEST WEAPONS ALTERNATIVE WEAPONS
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Stage 1 Spray Missile Anti-Air Mine Photons Homing
Stage 2 Heat Arrow Comrade Fighter
Stage 3 Auto-Aim Vulcan Homing Missile Heat Arrow
Stage 4 Sonic Wave Heat Arrow Auto-Aim Vulcan
Stage 5 Atomic Missile or Megabeam Cannon Sonic Shooter
Stage 6 Laser Cannon Comrade Fighter
Stage 7 Megabeam Cannon or Atomic Missile Sonic Shooter
Stage 8 Plasma Shield Plasma Shield
STAGE 1 Master Fighter Plane
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Best Weapon: Spray Missile
Alternatives: Sonic Wave, Anti Air-Mine, Homing Missile, Photon Torpedo
Spray Missile is the best choice for wide control over the screen. Its low
energy cost makes it useful for destroying weak enemies. It's also very
effective against the boss which is a giant plane. You need to take out 3 guns
and the missile tubes on the left and right side, and then finish it off
at the cockpit.
There are times when long fast missiles will descend single file from the top
of the screen. DO NOT move around when this happens. Stay in one spot and keep
firing, or fire your special weapon if you want to raise the high score.
You really need to get through this level without dying. If you are dying,
reset and try again until you get better. At level 1 you will reach maximum
fire power in this stage, but the bosses are harder to destroy. In other
levels you won't get maxxed out until stage 5. In this game you either never
die or always die.
If you're still having trouble, try Sonic Wave which destroys all enemies and
enemy fire on the screen. When using sonic wave against the boss, use it
sparingly to destroy missiles and enemy fire. Keep firing at the two main
missile bays and you will win.
Photon Torpedos are also effective against the boss, but are less helpful then
spray missile and there are no enemies that harass you at the bottom. Homing
Missiles are better on stages 3 and 4, and less useful then spray missile.
STAGE 2 Master Helicopter
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Best Weapon: Heat Arrow
Alternatives: Comrade, Photon Torpedo, Sonic Wave, or Auto Aim Vulcan
This stage is ideal for two players. One should pick a strong weapon and
the other an omni directional weapon. For one player its harder, because
you really need both. You need a strong weapon for the two bosses, and an
omni directional weapon for the tanks that appear at the lower left and
right sides towards the end of the stage.
Comrade Fighter is a good choice on level 1, or if you have full firepower.
You can destroy some of the tanks that appear on the lower left and right by
staying at the bottom and parking your comrade fighters on top of them.
Heat Arrow is the best weapon. In this case, the tanks, weak enemies, and
the stage itself will be easier, but the bosses will be harder. The first mini
boss is a giant plane. Fire normal shot and use heat arrow when it forces you
to move left, right, and above it. Then go back under and finish it off with
normal fire.
The boss is a colossal helicopter with an endless supply of spray missiles.
Use rapid fire normal shot AND rapid fire Heat arrow to attack and destroy
the missiles. It will close in, forcing you to move to the right side and
around it before attacking again. It will not attack unless you're beneath.
Do not waste heat arrow when this happens, use it with Rapid Fire against
the missiles. It should go down after that.
STAGE 3 Master Tank
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Best Weapon: Auto-Aim Vulcan
Alternatives: Homing Missile Sonic Shooter Photons Heat Arrow or Comrades
This stage is full of tanks, and more will appear at the lower right and left
side of the screen then in the last stage. If there are two players, one of
them should use Sonic Shooter. This combination gives you full control of
the stage.
Auto-Aim Vulcan is better then other smart weapons for this stage. All of it
will unload against the boss instead of heat arrow which flies all over.
The colossal tank features triple center cannons you need to watch out for.
Start off by attacking from the side with your special weapon. Watch the
turrets move, and attack the cannons with normal fire when it's aim is
diagonal. Do this several times to win.
If you have Sonic Shooter, you can use it to eliminate the blasts fired by
the three cannons so that you don't even have to move. While the tank will be
destroyed more quickly this way, the downside to Sonic Shooter is that you
won't have rapid fire.
STAGE 4 Master Battleship
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Best Weapon: Sonic Wave
Alternatives: Homing Missile Heat Arrow Auto-Aim vulcan Photon Torpedo
You face the enemies Navy. Ships will often appear at the bottom of the screen.
An Omni directional weapon or smart weapon is recommended. To conserve sonic
Wave try to wait until the other enemies appear before using it to destroy the
ships at the bottom.
The boss is a giant Battleship. You begin above it, and will be lowered down
before it starts attacking, but you can destroy some of its guns during this
time. When the real battle starts, missiles will fire from enemies off screen
to the left and right and enemy fire will come from the center and whatever
guns remain.
Sonic Wave is useful to quickly destroy enemy fire and missiles. Heat Arrow
should be used on rapid fire. Homing Missiles and Photons are less effective.
STAGE 5 Satelite Laser
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Best Weapon: Atomic Missile
Alternatives: MegaBeam Cannon, Sonic Shooter
This stage is where everything changes. It's not a hard level, but the boss
is VERY hard. You can easily beat this stage without any special weapons,
but Atomic Missiles or Megabeam Cannon are the only good options so that
you destroy the boss quickly.
The boss is a Satelite that fires a laser beam and bounces it off of small
satelites that roam around at the bottom of the screen. You need to fire at
the laser cannon, but your area of movement is small and you'll probably die.
Sonic Shooter will eliminate the laser beam, but you don't have rapid fire
and the battle will take a while. If you have been getting through every
stage without dying on level 2 or higher, the boss will die quicker then on
level 1 difficulty.
This stage is full of asteroids and new enemies, but they are all coming
from the top of the screen. Comrade fighter is the best choice for clearing
the stage if you have maximum fire power and don't die. Laser Cannon is
slightly better then even this at destroying the boss quickly. It mainly
attacks with a swarm of large photon torpedos.
STAGE 7 Master Warship
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Best Weapon: MegaBeam Cannon
Alternatives: Atomic Missile, Sonic Shooter, Plasma Shield
In this level you fight a tough mini boss while flying over the moon. The
main boss is ridiculously hard and will unleash constant weapon fire nearly
everywhere on the screen. It will occassionally leave and attack you with
specific sections of itself.
Megabeam Cannon should destroy it with one blast, it certainly does at level
2, but the stage is harder to get through as you can only use it once per
reload of energy. If you used Megabeam Cannon on stage 5, then you need to
use Atomic Missiles in this stage, which will make it easier. You will
likely die once or twice, but we're at the end anyway so it doesn't matter.
If you were foolish enough to have used both of these weapons earlier, then
you must rely on Sonic Shooter or Plasma Shield. Any other weapoon and you
can expect to die upwards of 6-8 times fighting the final boss.
If you're using Sonic Shooter, you will need to follow the same strategy.
Unload all of your energy, die, and then do it again, along with rapid fire
of your normal weapon. Your fingers will get tired, because Sonic Shooter
doesn't work on Rapid Fire and you need to fire it a ridiculous number of
times to survive and destroy this warship.
STAGE 8 The MotherShip
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Best Weapon: Plasma Shield
Alternatives: Spray Missile, Sonic Wave
There are a few enemies at the beginning of this stage, but most of it will
be spent inside of the mothership where you will be flying very fast while
attempting to dodge walls and obstacles. Keep pressing Plasma Shield and
you wont die. Without Plasma Shield you will probably die many times.
The boss is a core that's destroyed with one shot.
* This guide was designed for Difficulty Levels 1 and 2.
Difficulty Levels 3 and 4 may introduce new problems,
but the overall strategies should remain the same.
