Nemesis
Game Boy
Developer: Konami Publisher: Ultra Games
By: GammaBetaAlpha
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Table of Contents
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How to Play [HOWT]
Walkthrough [WALK]
Donations/Amazon [DONT]
Contact Info [CONT]
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How to Play
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[HOWT]
Nemesis is a Gradius port for the Game Boy with five levels to it. It is
a horizontal (side-scrolling) shooter where each level typically has a mini-boss
of sorts followed by a boss at the end of each level, barring the last level.
Much like most shoot-em-ups, or shmups, Nemesis also has a Power-Up system.
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Power-Ups
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After you defeat certain enemies, they will leave behind power-ups (the
icon perhaps most resembles the energy fill items from the Mega Man games). If
you pick up a Power-Up and press the B button, the power-up is then activated
either until you die or finish the level. All the power-ups will stack on top
of each other except for Laser and Double, so you can have five power-ups
active at once.
(S)peed - Doubles your ship Speed
(M)issile - Fires a ground missile that goes at about a 45 degree trajectory
to the southeast
(D)ouble - Shoots a laser out straight and up at a 45 degree straight angle
(L)aser - Stronger than the regular laser, can go through ships as well if
Double is not already in effect
(O)ption
(S) - Shield that takes five hits before being destroyed
Circular-shaped pod - Eliminates all on-screen enemies
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In-Game Codes
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To enable the Konami Code, press Start to pause the game while playing
and press
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A and Start
Unpause the game, and you will have all power-ups active.
To destroy everything on screen (does not work on bosses)
Up, Right, Down, Left, Up, Right, Down, Left, B, A, B, A
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Options
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Stage - Lets you choose what stage you want to start out on
Level - Difficulty setting: 1 is easier, 2 is harder
Rest - Number of lives you have. Can choose anywhere from 0 to 99.
Auto Shot - Basically lets you determine whether the laser button is 'turbo' or
not - if you
hold down on the laser button, you will continue to fire if Auto
Shot is On.
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Level One
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For the first little bit, you will be encountering mainly waves of
enemies coming from the top and bottom, before you start getting UFO-shaped
foes and other small single ships coming through the center of the screen.
Once the cavern widens out to encompass the whole screen, watch out for
battle pods lining the ceilings and floors, as well as mechs approaching on the
floor from behind. After a short while longer, you will start encountering
larger pods on the ceilings and floors - wait for one of them to open the hatch
on the dome before firing at it to destroy it.
As you will find to be quite common throughout the game, Nemesis mainly
spams you with enemies. That said, as soon as you get the Laser power-up,
immediately use the B button to equip it. The Laser is highly useful in that it
can pierce through the larger pods so that while it will not destroy a closed
pod, it can take any smaller pods out behind it. On that same note, it can also
go through a whole wave of lined-up enemies quite like nothing else.
Boss Battle
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The two volcanos at the start are not the real boss. Instead, they are
merely the first part of the boss battle. You cannot actually attack or damage
the volcanos, so instead dodge all the lava that is spit out of the volcano
craters. After a while, the volcanos will go dormant, and you will be able to
fight the real boss, a big ship enemy.
Unless you have basically no power-ups at all, this fight should go by
relatively quick. The ship will spit out two lasers from the center and one
from either the top or the bottom for a short amount of time. After a while, it
will open up the hatch, and start firing four lasers. To damage it, either hit
it from the front, or, if you have the Missiles, you can try to get above it
and spam Missiles to dodge getting hit by any lasers.
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Level Two
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Almost immediately, you will encounter a fairly large enemy that spits
three projectiles from its mouth. You cannot destroy the projectiles, so just
spam fire at the big ship and dodge the projectile.
Once you get into the vinegrowth, you will end up encountering several
waves of three projectiles, as well as flower-like objects drifting in from
above and below. For this, you may wish to switch to using Double as opposed to
Laser to eliminate anything coming up from above, as well as the haypile-like
enemies that hang off the ceiling and floor. These last foes should in
particular be dealt with as soon as they come on screen, or else their presence
will make certain parts be very narrow to weave a path through.
Late on in the stage, when you encounter a second one of the enemies
like the one you fought at the beginning of the stage, destroy the haypile-
enemy up on the ceiling. If you go approach the ceiling here, you can actually
skip ahead to Level 3.
After you get out of the jungle, you will be put into a white space,
and several of the projectiles (known as Zubs) will form. The Zubs will then
come at you. The best trick to counter-act this, if you have the orbital drones
helping you and full arsenal, is to go to the bottom right corner and spam
lasers to destroy everything that comes your way. You need to make sure you
have the orbital drones hovering BEHIND you, however. Otherwise, weave around
constantly, or else you risk a Zub forming right underneath your ship. After
some time, the boss will come out.
Boss Battle
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The vaguely clam-like boss here will start off by shooting vertical
lasers out of its maw. The laser starts out short, but begins to lengthen the
closer to the left side of the screen it gets. It will also spit out five rocks
at the same time, which can be destroyed. After a short while, it will stop
spitting the lasers, move to the left side to trap your ship in its 'maw', then
quickly move up or down to try hitting you with the tip of its clamp. Move with
it to avoid similarly getting hit. Once it retreats to the right side of the
screen, it will continue to repeat this pattern. Just keep hammering away at it
until it is destroyed.
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Level Three
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If you take the shortcut from Level two, you mainly have to destroy
large sections of wall. The best way to do this is to spam laser fire with
orbital drones and clear out two rows, then move down slightly to clear out a
third row just for extra space. Be sure to grab the blocks with letters on
them, as they will award you bonus points.
Should you take the normal route, equip the Double power-up the first
chance you get. This is due to the Moai head figurines you will see once you
get inside of the cave. As soon as you get within range, they shall shoot four
energy orbs at a time at you (though some of the attacks are thankfully blocked
due to conveniently-placed rock formations that split the level vertically in
half). As such, with how liberally they are placed across the stage, it is
imperative to take them out quickly.
Keep your eye open, as the Moai heads tend to blend into the rock
fairly well at times - it would not do to get hit by a head that you did not
notice. You will also occasionally face regular enemies, but they are nothing
compared to the nuisance of the Moai heads.
The 'mini-boss' at the end here are four rocks which will come out and
fuse into a flying saucer. Spam fire at it until it moves around and splits up
again, and continue to hit it until the component rocks are each destroyed.
Boss Battle
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The beetle boss for Level 3 has a fairly distinct pattern that is
somewhat shorter than the last two bosses. It will first spit out three waves
of several spike projectiles - as the projectiles get further away from the
boss, there is more room to duck and weave in between, so stay away at the edge
of the screen for maximum maneuverability. After, it will slam into the end of
the screen, so go down or up to get out of its way. It will then repeat its
attacks, so spam fire until it dies.
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Level Four
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Level Four sees a return to several normal enemies - at the start, you
should also watch your back side, as enemies will also come in from behind. You
will soon encounter some rocks that you cannot destroy. Simply move past them
instead of trying to shoot them down. After the first wave of rocks, you should
also start spamming your weapons if you have missiles equipped, as capsule-like
enemies will start coming out from below and above and splitting into three
before continuing to rise (for this reason you should also equip Double if you
have Laser activated).
You shall also face the occasional skull enemy who will require a
couple of hits to knock off.
The mini-boss at the end basically consists of four large pod-shaped
enemies. Take out the first two quickly to avoid getting triple-teamed, then
focus on the last two as they show up on screen.
Boss Battle
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Level Four's Boss consists of a giant tower that takes up most of the
screen. It will come in on a tank of sorts, and rise up to the sky, before
firing a few dozen small pellets from the cannons on the length of the tower.
While it is exposed, spam fire at it, and after a short time the tower will
retreat back into the tank, before coming out again and firing again. Repeat
fire until it is destroyed.
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Level Five
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You will start out with having to pick off a couple of waves of enemies
before you get into a mechanically-inspired environment enclosure with several
regular ships as well as pods on both the top and the bottom. You will also
have to watch out for the occasional ship bouncing in from behind, as well as
Zubs (energy orbs that form in mid-air) coming up at inopportune moments.
Late in the level, you will also encounter a new environmental hazard:
short, narrow spaces, where blocks will come through, blocking off all access
through the route. Wait for the block to go all the way out before swiftly
flying through into the next chamber.
A rather tame mini-boss awaits at the end: a sphere in a computer
terminal that fires out a pair of small pellets at a time. Fire away at it, and
just watch out for the mech foes that come out from behind on both the floor
and the ceiling.
That mini-boss is actually the real boss, however, which ends the game.
After that you restart the game with quicker enemies.
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Contact Info
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[CONT]
Although I believe I have found everything there is to find in this
game, there is occasionally the possibility of some super secret level in an
obscure game that was never found because it was too obscure, or the like. If
you have anything that you feel needs to be includes, feel free to email me at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you have any other information to contribute or notice any errors,
again, shoot me a notice at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
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