HIGHWAY HUNTER
System: PC
An FAQ by the Yuka Takeuchi Fan
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CONTENTS:
Phase 1: Versions
Phase 2: Story behind the author
Phase 3: Story behind the FAQ
Phase 4: Storyline of the game
Phase 5: Controls
Phase 6: Main menu options
Phase 7: Difficulties
Phase 8: Powerups
Phase 9: Weaponry (yours and enemies')
Phase 10: Shields
Phase 11: Hints and tips
Phase 12: Walkthrough
Phase 13: Closing
Phase 14: End
Phase 15: Really the end this time (basically me being a wiseass)
(Yes, I know the word 'Phase' may be a weird one to use for this
purpose, but you can easily jump between sections that way- I don't
recall using the word 'Phase' for any other reason... well, except HERE
anyway...)
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Phase 1:
VERSIONS
1.0 (September 28, 2005):
The first edition of this guide to be submitted to GameFAQs. It
contains enemy guides, boss strategies, a timed walkthrough, and
explanations of how to play and what the main menu options mean.
Actually, as far as I know, this is about all I can do with the guide.
That is, unless I went out of my mind and tried to do some strategy
guide as to how you could beat bosses with only a V-Laser. Ha ha.
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Phase 2:
STORY BEHIND THE AUTHOR
I'm the Yuka Takeuchi Fan. To be blunt, I'm a sarcastic dumbass. If
you're not already aware of it, or are NOT only reading this because
you're a fan of my website (Yuka Takeuchi Fan's Severe Waste of Time),
I run... wait, I already gave away what I do. Well, no matter. I'm an
anime freak that loves video games. There's really not much else I can
think of to say, so feel free to just head on to the next section.
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Phase 3:
STORY BEHIND THE FAQ
Back when I was about eight or nine, maybe ten, the Walmart that had
recently opened near my house had an electronics section I frequented.
At the said age, there was a shelf near the back with a bunch of old
games they were selling for about $5 each, then $2.50 each, then $1
each, then the section disappeared. Well, one of the MANY games I
bought from that shelf was this one, 'Highway Hunter'. I rather enjoyed
it, despite the fact that since I'd bought the shareware version, I
only got to play the first five levels, at which point the game ended
and told me to buy the full version for about $20. You might suspect
that my broke ass at that age wasn't really ready to pay that much; you
would suspect wisely.
Ten years pass.
It's now 2005 and I started looking through the Home of the Underdogs.
For the sheer hell of it, I started looking for some of the games I'd
bought way back when.
Imagine my surprise to see that Highway Hunter was among them!
And imagine my GREATER surprise to see that I was able to play all 15
levels with the downloaded version.
So, not having anything better to do, I decided- why not make a little
strategy guide for this game?
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Phase 4:
STORYLINE OF THE GAME
Before I go further, I should mention that the game has a storyline,
but it never really seems to apply to the game, and also, the story
seems to change during the game.
Nonetheless...
Game Manual Storyline:
"Five years ago the Axis of Allied Planets took over Earth and
installed terraformers to reshape the environment and make it more
hospitable for offworlders. Unfortunately the terraformers are killing
all human life...
After a stint at freedom-fighting, you were captured and put into an
'adjustment camp' working in the garage. You helped develop the Multi-
Attack Super Turbo Energy Ranger (MASTER), a prototype vehicle that the
aliens will use to annihilate any remaining resistance.
Seeing your chance, you steal the MASTER and break out of prison...
You must now punch through the prison's security perimeter, rejoin the
partisans, destroy the terraformers, and save your world!
Good luck!"
In-game Storyline (coincidentally the objective):
"You are still within the controlled boundaries of the Axis of Allied
Planets. Use your MASTER to defeat their defenses and escape to
freedom."
Personal Analysis:
This is going to sound amazingly smart-ass, but if you're familiar
with my main contribution to the online world, you're going to see it
coming.
Anyway.
Okay, so your jailbird ass was quite stupidly put to work developing a
weapon that will eventually be used by your captors. Being considerably
smarter than your captors in this regard, you made a spare set of keys
up and bent up the originals. During one of the alien office parties,
you take advantage of the guard's lightweight tendencies and slip a few
shots of vodka into his beer. Getting into the room with the weapon you
developed proved not to be difficult. So you took the spare keys you
made out of your pocket and fired up the car. Obviously, since you
designed this thing, getting it out of the prison complex wasn't
difficult. You make your initial escape through a hard-ass security
checkpoint (a crossbar used to prevent idiots from getting too close to
the train tracks of yore), and begin hauling ass out of the aliens'
realm of control.
You decide to worry about the facts that you A) did not think to bring
any pals, or maybe the cutie from the next cell over with you, B) you
don't have a clue where these 'terraformer' things are, and C) you
actually don't really have anyplace you know of to go later.
(Throughout the game, you can add in D) you never destroy anything
that could possibly be a terraformer, E) you never find this group of
allies, F) you never seem to clearly reach any other civilization, G)
you never exactly destroy anything you could consider a main command
center of the aliens (you're kinda trying to escape and no sane being
would build a command center THAT close to the outskirts of their
empire), H) these terraformers you failed to destroy aren't liable to
just stop extending their deadly reach beyond the point on Earth the
game ends at and will likely kill you within a few years, and of course,
I) you never find any cute girls to rescue along the way that are
willing to 'thank' you for saving their sexy little butts. So
realistically, you are a total dumbass.)
But you still get to blow a ton of crap up along the way, and that's
always a nice stress relief!
(And on Hard mode, why enemies had you develop a weapon that blows to
pieces upon contact with anything except concrete and air is a story
that could take AGES to discuss.)
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Phase 5:
CONTROLS
Arrow keys:
Move your car around, because it's really hard to hit a lot of the
enemies if you stay in one place.
ESC:
Quits the game and returns you to the main menu, because every so
often a person you live with will ask you to do things that will cause
you to leave the house and make it somewhat suboptimal to leave the game
running.
Enter:
Skips cutscenes and makes decisions on the main menu. All games of the
time needed to use the Enter key for some reason.
Spacebar:
Fire your weapon, because the 'rear-end the bastard' attack did not
make it into the final release.
P:
Pause the game, because you have to take a whiz or something.
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Phase 6:
MAIN MENU OPTIONS
Start game:
Well, you probably didn't get this game to look at the opening
screen...
Read this!:
The instruction manual/useless ordering information. You won't need to
look at this if you read enough of this FAQ; it says nothing I won't;
nothing of any importance, anyway.
Difficulty:
Just as it sounds. I detail the three settings in the next section. Be
forewarned, the jump from Medium to Hard is immense.
Sound:
Turn it on to hear the sound effects during the game.
Music:
Turn it on to hear the music in the game. I personally find it to be
quite excellent; I wouldn't turn it off.
Control:
State whether you wish to use the keyboard, the mouse, or a joystick
to play. I will act as if you are playing using the keyboard, regardless
of what you choose.
Joystick setup:
Should you have a joystick, this option will get it ready for play.
Speed:
Toggles the game speed between four different settings. It defaults at
'Fast', but can be set lower should you wish- be forewarned that
EVERYTHING in the game is affected by this. I prefer to leave it on
'Fast' and this guide will assume that you have done the same.
Top scores:
Take a look at the six highest scores that have been obtained during
play. Should you get on this list; you can type a six-letter name you
wish to go by.
Credits:
Take a look at the people who made this game (four people, nice)
Exit:
If you're done playing the game, hit this option and you will quit the
game.
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Phase 7:
DIFFICULTIES
I might be mistaken, but I haven't noticed any real jumps in enemy
health or difficulty between the difficulty settings. Although enemies
will get WAY harder on Hard for reasons I'll get into shortly (unless
you read my little story all the way through), I believe that it is for
reasons other than enemy strength. Again, you will see why soon.
Also, when I say "5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade"- if a powerup will
give you a new weapon (3-7 blocks on your ammo bar), you get 6 blocks.
If it doesn't (1-2 blocks on your ammo bar), you get 5. And sometimes,
the game ignores this general rule too. So, 5 or 6.
Easy:
-5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade
-Health powerups give you 3 health blocks
-You get an extra health block every 100,000 points
-Ramming into walls does not hurt you
Medium:
-5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade
-Health powerups give you 3 health blocks
-You get an extra health block every 100,000 points
-Ramming into walls DOES hurt you
Hard:
-7 weapon blocks per upgrade
-Health powerups give you 1 health block
-You get an extra health block every 100,000 points
-Ramming into walls DOES hurt you
-You might notice that your health gauge no longer reads 'energy'.
Rather, now it reads 'lives'. You might think this means little, but no,
this one change is the entire reason why the jump from Medium to Hard is
such an incredible one. See, in earlier difficulties, getting hit simply
caused a notch in your health gauge to die out. Now, your car explodes
upon the slightest damage, RESETTING YOUR WEAPON BACK TO ITS EARLIEST
LEVEL, THE V-LASER. I should not have to say how much of a handicap this
will be to you if you get hit even once during a boss fight...
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Phase 8:
POWERUPS
Red "C":
Does about 4-6 HP worth of damage to all non-boss enemies onscreen
(and some just offscreen) at the time. If it damages bosses, I wouldn't
know; the game does not spawn these anywhere near any boss. Enemies
killed with this power-up do not add to your score.
Blue "O":
Provides temporarily invincibility for a few seconds.
Green "U":
Powers up your weaponry. The boost you get relies on your difficulty
level.
Something that looks like a blue pen top with a red outline:
Health bonus. How much of a boost this gives you relies on your
difficulty level.
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Phase 9:
WEAPONRY
You can rapid-fire any weapon you have simply by holding down the
attack button. Try not to do this with the P-Laser, though. THOSE shots
you NEED to make count.
V-Laser (1 HP per shot)
This is your starting weapon, and it totally sucks, but to be fair,
most starting weapons in shooting games are like this. It fires one
thin, weak laser right in front of your car. The only good thing about
this weapon is that it won't run out of ammo, and unless you're playing
on Hard, you will never see it again the moment you upgrade to the W-
Laser, unless you continue. You are in BIG trouble if you try to use
this thing against a boss, which is a disturbingly likely scenario on
Hard mode.
W-Laser (1 HP per shot, 2 HP total)
This is a small step up from the V-Laser. It fires TWO thin, weak
lasers right in front of your car. Each laser hits for its own damage.
This is the only weapon upgrade you will get that will not run out of
ammo.
W-Missile (2 HP per shot, 4 HP total)
Shoots two missiles in front of you, and each one deals twice the
damage of the lasers you've been using. It's a nice step up from the
last couple of weapons. From this point forward, your guns consume ammo,
so don't fire mindlessly if you don't need to.
W-Combo (Probably 1 HP/laser, 2 HP/missile, 4 HP total)
Basically, it's the W-Laser with a missile stuck between it, so you
get three shots flying out of your car at any given time. It's really no
more powerful than the W-Missile, but it covers a slight bit more of a
spread.
Flasher (Probably 1 HP/laser, 2 or 3 HP/flame shot, it's hard to tell)
A W-Laser with a VERY fast-firing flamethrower between it. I can't
really tell how much damage it deals compared to its predecessors, but
anything in front of the flamethrower tends to die in relatively short
order. Unfortunately, the flamethrower does not have much in the way of
speed- it puts out a lot of shots but it feels like it takes a while for
them to run into the enemy compared to other weapons.
Ion Gun (About 2 HP/shot, COULD do 8 HP total but it's not likely to
happen)
This, and the next weapon up, are the only two weapons in the game
that aim off at a diagonal so that you don't only hit enemies in front
of you, but also enemies off to about a 45-degree angle from both sides
of your car. It's got a pretty damn fast firing rate and can hit lots of
stuff (it fires two shots forward and one to each angle). Great weapon,
but there's even better stuff ahead.
Ion Combo (About 2 HP/ion, 2 HP/missile, COULD do 10 HP total)
Hoo hoo, we're talkin' now. An Ion Gun with a missile shoved between
the front ions. Basically, the Ion Gun with more power behind it. Two
more to go, though, and they STILL kick more ass.
P-Laser (Generally instant death against any enemy, it's hard to tell:
if I had to guess, it's about 10 HP/pulsing sound effect- and
you get a LOT of pulsing sound effects)
The good news about this weapon: This is, no question about it, THE
weapon of choice against bosses. One shot of this will do insane damage
to bosses, and will likely kill them, or at least severely damage them,
in only a couple of shots. The bad news: Each shot usually takes an
entire block out of your weapon gauge, and it's not such a hot weapon
against normal foes (you don't need such power against normal opponents,
AND it has a rather thin horizontal area of attack). Do everything in
your power to conserve your ammo for this weapon, which likely includes
TRYING to hold your fire long enough to get your paws on the...
M-Laser (Probably about 2 HP/missile, around 6 HP/laser (hard to
gauge), so around 14 HP total... and it's LIKELY to hit for
8 HP every time)
This is the last level of weapon you can get. If you get another
weapon powerup from this point on, you will add 5 blocks to this
weapon... If you have three or more blocks, you'll go up to a second bar
with one block, which, when depleted, will go back to your 7-block stock
of M-Laser ammo.
Anyway, the weapon itself. It's not as powerful as the P-Laser, which
doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. However, it carries a lot more
ammo with it than the P-Laser does, so it'll serve its purpose well. Its
purpose, aside from shooting gigantic front-firing lasers out of the
sides of your car (and a missile from the dead center), is to ensure
that you have ammo to burn on normal foes before you cut loose with your
P-Laser on bosses. This is a fine weapon that will serve you very well
throughout the game, fitting for the last weapon you can get.
COMMON ENEMY WEAPONRY:
Lasers:
Lasers fire straight down, vertically. Many can't be destroyed, but
they're simple enough to simply get out of the way of.
Balls:
Balls tend to be aimed at your current location, but can be dodged
simply by moving. They are generally destructible, unless you aren't in
a position to shoot them. For some reason, if they're fired to the side
of the enemy, they tend to come at you WAY faster.
Missiles:
Missiles act like lasers, but quite a number will semi-track your
position (i.e., they are fired vertically, but will move horizontally a
small bit in order to hit you). They can be destroyed.
Enemy bodies:
Ground-based enemies hurt you to the touch. Some enemies will use this
knowledge to kamikaze-attack you, and you either have to dodge them, or
shoot them down. Warning- some enemies do not take well to the 'dodge'
strategy.
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Phase 10:
SHIELDS
Something you should know- all non-boss enemies that ram into your
shield (or enemies you ram your shield into, which is more likely) will
be quickly destroyed. However, you don't get a damn point for doing so,
which is bad when you get an extra health block for every 100,000
points. So if you can, try to limit your shield's use to blocking
bullets. Also, even though the manual SAYS you lose shield energy faster
if the shield is hit, you seem to lose shield energy at the same rate no
matter what the hell you do, so just absorb bullets for as long as you
can with 'em. Hell, the enemies'll always be happy to give you more.
Frontal shield (looks like a yellow horizontal bar):
Um, duh? Blocks all enemy fire in front of you. Given that many of
your enemies in this game fire straight at you from what's generally the
top part of the screen, this is often the shield of choice. Plus, you
can tear enemies apart simply by ramming right into them (WITH YOUR
SHIELD, NOT YOUR CAR!) like described before- just realize your score
will suffer.
Side shield (looks like two yellow horizontal bars):
You probably aren't going to be using this one to slam into enemies.
In fact, you CAN'T use this to slam into enemies; they'll take no damage
and you'll get your ass kicked. In fact, for some reason (a glitch
maybe?), this blocks jack-shit from hitting you. Don't pick this up if
you actually have the option to avoid it.
Pinwheel shield (looks like a pinwheel):
This isn't that effective of a shield, to me anyway. It rotates around
you pretty quickly, but some bullets and enemies can squeak through
nonetheless if they're fast enough (that pinwheel doesn't protect
everything ALL the time...), and bullets that take a little bit more oomph
to destroy may just get through and hit you anyway. Also, it'll slap the
hell out of all nearby enemies, so your score's likely to suffer quite a
bit. I prefer the Frontal shield if it's available.
Circle shield (looks like a circle):
This isn't that good a shield. It's sort of like the Front shield, but
it doesn't cover quite as much of the area to the sides as that one.
This has another function, though. Holding the fire button causes the
shield to move forward... thus making it almost useless for protection,
but slicing up enemies at the top of the screen above you as they
appear. But since you have a weapon firing all the time as you do this,
you're both defeating the purpose (your weapon kills as well as any
shield) and wasting ammo hand over fist.
Diamond shield (looks like a diamond with a '+' carved into it):
It's an okay shield... It's basically a version of the Front shield that
waves around really quickly. It sticks out a bit farther from your car
than I'd like, and it tends to rip enemies a new one more often than I'd
like as well, but it serves its purpose quite well otherwise.
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Phase 11:
HINTS AND TIPS
-No enemy in the game appears from the bottom of the screen. Thus, if
you want to stay the safest you'll get, keep your car along the bottom
of the screen so that you'll get surprised less often.
-Remember, no matter how big or how tiny the shot, or how much it
resembles that P-Laser of yours, getting hit will always take one, and
ONLY one health block from your health gauge. Collisions with ground-
based enemies will do the same, and generally wipe the enemy from this
plane of existence.
-Try not to destroy enemies through the use of your shield, or through
the 'C' powerup, if any such event is avoidable (although I won't tell
you to not pick up 'C' powerups, they're nice breathers and useful
around a bunch of hard-to-hit enemies). You earn fewer points that way,
and if you don't earn points, you have to rely on life powerups to stay
alive. Some stages are not as nice with this second way as others.
-Do everything in your power to not die. On Easy and Medium, this means
running out of health and continuing; on Hard, this means GETTING HIT.
You are put at such a disadvantage by reverting back to the V-Laser that
it's plain CRUEL.
-NEVER hit the 'Esc' key. Your game will instantly end without so much
as a confirmation prompt, and you'll have to either continue or restart.
-Don't fire your weapon if you don't need to. Ammo gets scarce in some
parts of the game, and you don't want to end up with a shitty weapon
during those times. However, don't hold back when you see enemies. If
you don't kill what you see quickly, you could eventually get
overwhelmed. You get overwhelmed, you get hurt. You get hurt enough, you
die. You die, you have to continue. You continue, you get a V-Laser.
That's a shitty weapon.
-Remember, you're on a road. You cannot drive off this road. You only
have so much room to dodge attacks with, and you have to prepare
accordingly for some enemies.
-Try to keep track of how the road goes. Whether it's straight,
straight with some turns, zigzaggy, constant S-curves, whatever, it'll
likely help you know where to go to avoid attacks, or perhaps how to
tell when enemies might be coming.
-Kill everything you can. I repeat from earlier; every 100000 points
gives you another health block.
-On the flip side, don't attack enemies you can't easily reach. The
possibility of losing health to gain, at BEST, 2/25 of the score you
need to get another life point, is not a tradeoff you need to make.
-Don't begin with the second episode, 'The Lost Roads', unless you
really want a challenge. I personally find this to be the toughest set
of levels the game has to offer (I maintain that level 9 is the toughest
in the game!), and you probably don't want to start it with a V-Laser.
-Enemies that fly cannot hurt you via contact. However, if their
weapons hit you (hint- they almost always have weapons), those WILL hurt
you.
-If you don't feel like reading my boss strategies, just remember-
usually, your target is the current weapon it's using to attack.
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Phase 12:
WALKTHROUGH
Okay, before I even think about going on, know this. I am NOT going to
tell you where every single enemy in the game is because I do not
possess NEARLY that level of patience, and I am NOT going to tell you
where powerups are, because I believe you're smart enough to realize
that grabbing powerups is never bad unless you're about to pick up a
shield you don't like. What I AM going to do is tell you what you fight
in each stage, and I used an egg timer to give rough estimates for when
certain events begin to happen in each stage, such as when obstacles
begin to attack you relentlessly, or when a boss appears. My times will
not be exact, but they'll be close.
Bosses. I will provide boss strategies, but there's not much strategy
for your offense other than "Fire repeatedly at its weak point,
hopefully with a P-Laser". That said, I will describe boss attacks and
boss weak points. Really, this is an easy enough game to where you
shouldn't NEED to know a lot of this stuff (on Easy and Medium, anyway),
but it's still useful!
Also, assuming you have the commercial version of this game, you can
choose whether to start on stage 1, 6, or 11. If you're shooting for a
high score and want an all-around easier time, I personally suggest you
just start with stage 1. The points (and thus, health) and weaponry you
earn will give you an advantage in later levels, in which some you're
gonna NEED the advantage (especially in the middle levels).
Last thing. As I said way earlier, I timed these walkthroughs
according to the 'Fast' speed setting. Anything slower, you'll just have
to adjust the general time frames accordingly to. I also played on the
'Medium' difficulty setting; I remind you again that enemies do not seem
to be harder or easier depending on difficulty settings.
On we go...
--------EPISODE 1: EVIL DRIVERS--------
"Unit 1-6247 is compromising security grid. Annihilate immediately!"
Initial impression: "Hey, what gives? This dude is clearly human. I
thought I was out to outrun these aliens that didn't give a flying shit
about us. Traitor. I'll do him in for that, assuming he's a boss or
something."
---STAGE 1---
Stage setting: Highway, above a city.
Initial impression: "Nice opening level. Fits quite well with that
initial cutscene where I shot out that crossbar. Let's get moving!"
New enemies:
-Motorcycle: Not a threat. It's not really a motorcycle either (it has
four wheels, I think), but aside from that, it looks enough like one.
Their one and only 'attack' is to move slowly down the screen in the
hopes that you won't destroy it long enough for it to slam into you. It
will die quickly from ANYTHING. (1000 points)
-Sidecannon: A bit of a pain in the ass because it loves to inhabit
parts of the road that you can't easily shoot at- and it fires shots
across the road just quickly enough to where it's hard to squeeze
between the shots. If you can hit it, it'll die pretty quickly, but
otherwise, unless you're a good dodger, you're likely to take a hit.
(4000 points)
-Spikeball: Similar to the Motorcycle, but it bounces across the road
at a 45-degree angle whenever it hits a wall, making it more likely to
hit you than the said foe- assuming you haven't blown it all over the
road by the time it draws close. (3000 points)
-Orbiter: Has a steel ball orbiting it for whatever reason. Again,
it's similar to the Motorcycle. Again, it will come straight down at
you, and not much else. It, once again, will die easily. (2000 points)
-Helicopter: This is one of the few enemies that even tries to pose a
threat on this stage. It flies down, lazily tracking you, and fires
missiles at you. These missiles can be shot down. Dies quickly, but it
DOES fight back. (5000 points)
0:00 - 1:15 :
Simple enough. You'll meet every enemy on this stage in fairly short
order. You WILL see Sidecannons that you won't be able to easily hit;
just try to block their shots with your shield. (I hope you have a
shield, anyway). Otherwise, you'll probably just end up getting hurt.
Ditto that for any other enemies you know you can't get in a vertical
line with in time to attack.
1:16 - 2:30 :
You probably just noticed some odd buildings along the side of the
road. By the time you've read this, you've also just noticed that
they're trying to fire bombs onto the road. You cannot destroy these
bombs; just get out of their way and let them hit the road. They
shouldn't hit you. If they're on the left of the road, stay on the
right. If they're on the right, stay on the left.
2:31 - 2:32 :
Uh-oh. The stage turned red and half blown-up. That CAN'T be good. Not
to speak of the untold number of people that were probably just
inexplicably killed and all that, but you KNOW that means there's
probably a boss around the corner... And after one more motorcycle
'attack', wouldn't you know it...
2:33 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- Flathead Lasertank (70000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Main turret
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
So named because that thing on its top looks like a flathead screw,
this is a simple boss, assuming you have its pattern down. You will not
be able to have a P-Laser in time to fight this guy; that's okay, just
open fire with all you've got. Right now, you probably have half a bar
of Flasher shots ready to fire. It'll fire thin, small green lasers from
its main turret in the middle, then from the sides, repeat until you've
blown the main turret away. (You will get 20000 points right now.)
Part 2:
From this point until one of you dies, the pattern changes to 'fire
missiles that can be destroyed from the front of the tank, and lasers
from the side cannons, repeat until dead'. Beware- the missiles are
fired on a different timer than the lasers, so it's possible that you'll
have missiles and lasers coming at you both at the same time. Shoot
anywhere on its body until it explodes. (You will get 50000 points for
finishing this guy off.)
---STAGE 2---
Stage setting: Futuristic-looking road, above a very dark landscape.
Initial impression: "Hey, I remember this music from the 'episode
start' cutscene. I wonder if I'll meet the bastard from that cutscene."
New enemies:
-Spyplane: This thing acts a lot like the Helicopter from Stage 1. It
even fires missiles, too. Treat it exactly like you would a Helicopter,
that said. (It's also 5000 points. Damn.)
0:00 - 1:49 :
This stage is actually fairly straightforward. Every enemy you've
fought thus far from stage 1 makes a return appearance here, with only
one exception- the Helicopter has been replaced by the Spyplane- which
is essentially the same damn thing! You're not exactly going to be
surprised by much in this stage, so you will eventually, with little
fanfare, reach-
1:50 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- World's Least Structurally Sound Helicopter (110000 points
total)
Weak points: All three rotors; all must be destroyed
Part 1:
There's only one real part to this fight; but this thing is a pain.
Honestly, I think this is one of the hardest bosses in the game. Again,
you are not likely to have a P-Laser; this time you're likely to be
fighting with an Ion Gun. The problem with this guy is that he
constantly attacks; tiny red bomb-balls constantly come out of the front
of this thing on a direct path with you. If you move out of their way,
they will not track you. If you shoot them, you can destroy them.
However, the rate of fire this thing puts out does not allow you to
easily dodge or counterattack the balls, and to destroy the side rotors,
you also can't line yourself up with the shots to ensure you destroy
them all. Also, for a few moments at the start of the fight, other
enemies attack, but luckily this will stop quickly. Just grab the
Frontal shield the game spawns near the beginning of this fight and hope
for the best, really. If at all possible, try to destroy the side rotors
while you still have Ion ammo, leaving the front rotor for your Flasher
to sort out. (Each rotor you destroy gives you 10000 points. For some
reason, destroying this thing gives you BOTH the typical 50000 points,
and also 30000 points for blowing away the body with a single shot.)
Question: How the hell does this thing stay up after even ONE rotor is
gone? This thing's mass is so lopsided on ANY side that it's mind-
boggling.
---STAGE 3---
Stage setting: A grassy field with many roads and ziggurat-like
buildings below.
Initial impression: "Wait a damn minute. How the hell did I get here?
I just spent a few minutes in what looked like Area 51, now I'm in the
rolling hills of Montana?"
New enemies:
-APC: Looks like an APC in jungle camo. Shoots silver balls at you
(that you can destroy) at a reasonably fast rate of fire. It'll die
quickly, though. (1000 points)
-Side Lasercannon: It may as well be the Sidecannon from Stage 1.
However, its shots cover a wider horizontal area, and its rate of fire
seems slightly lower. I find it a tiny bit easier than its predecessor.
(4000 points)
-Laser Vehicle: Looks like a van, in jungle camo, with a laser cannon
on top. It shoots vertical lasers down at you. It's a bit faster going
down the screen than the APC, but can only shoot right in front of it.
I'm not sure if you can destroy the shots; I usually had a shield that
absorbed the lasers before I could try to hit them. Don't test your
luck, though, because many laser shots can't be destroyed in this game.
(2000 points)
-Army jet: What the HELL is the army doing attacking us? We're REALLY
getting too buddy-buddy with these aliens. Anyway, these things fire
quick red missiles that VAGUELY track you (but otherwise go straight
down) This thing is much like the Helicopter and the Spyplane, despite
its missile's different appearance. The jet will constantly head toward
one side of the screen as it comes down at you. (5000 points. This is
getting ridiculous.)
-Spikemine: Get used to these things now. They're a pain and you'll be
seeing them a lot in later levels. Shoot them or ram them with your
shield, and they'll split into balls that fire in all four diagonal
directions. These balls can be destroyed, but it's a bit of a hassle to
do so, because it takes shots that you could be putting into other
enemies. (0 points, what a ripoff!)
0:00 - 0:55 :
Before I say much more, don't worry your little head about those Army
jets that are in the background. They will not attack you in any way,
and they'll be there throughout the stage. Everything except the
Spikemines will show up in short order- also, you will not be seeing
anything from the previous stages.
0:56 - 1:11 :
Uh oh, Spikemines. If you don't HAVE to shoot one to get past it,
DON'T SHOOT IT. You have nothing to gain by destroying either the mines
themselves or the balls they shoot out...
1:12 - 1:25 :
Hooray, just what we needed, another stage hazard. In addition to the
Spikemines that continue to litter the area, blue rockets will now start
being fired upward from the ziggurats at the bottom of the screen. Not
so bad until they reach the road's height- THEN they point in the
direction of the road and fire at you. Good news, at this point, you can
destroy them for 3000 points each.
1:26 - 2:26 :
Now it's raining out and the stage got darker... Around this point, the
Spikemines stop appearing. Hooray!
2:27 - 2:59 :
The rockets stop coming at you now, too. At the very end, three
Spikemines try to get their last hurrah, and HEY DON'T SNEAK UP ON US
LIKE THAT!
3:00 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- World's Second Least Structurally Sound Helicopter (90000
points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Front laser turret
Part 2: Both wing/rotors
Part 3: Anywhere
Part 1:
Not TOO bad, and this time, you should have the M-Laser by the time
you get here, although you'll have to try to get out of the way of the
very turret you must shoot at in order to not get hit by the lasers it
shoots. It only shoots one laser at a time. You cannot destroy the
lasers. (20000 points for you once you blow this part away.)
Part 2:
It gets a little trickier. Now the wings are shooting lasers at you.
You can't dodge them as easily as you could the single laser; you'll
have to try to get between them, most likely, which is a bit tricky to
do because this boss, as many bosses, moves around a lot. This said,
shoot the wing/rotor combo. (Each wing/rotor gives 10000 points upon
destruction.)
Again, please tell me how the hell this thing stays up once YOU'VE
RIPPED A DAMNED WING COMPLETELY OFF. This thing should be corkscrewing
like a wine freak once a wing is gone...
Part 3:
OHHHH, this explains it. Something ELSE must be keeping this thing
flying! But if that's the case, why did it have wings and rotors in the
first place? Probably just to add another part to the fight. For that
matter, what's keeping it flying NOW?
Oh, I'm digressing. Now, it fires red missiles from its body, much
like the Army jets you fought earlier. Since you can both destroy the
missiles and hit this thing anywhere now, it will die very, very
quickly. (You get 50000 points once this thing comes crashing down.)
---STAGE 4---
Stage setting: A weird desert-like landscape with many volcanic
craters.
Initial impression: "I hope those things don't plan on erupting
anytime soon... Looks like the greenery really let itself go."
New enemies:
-Drillshot: This thing actually tries to stay put on the road and
shoot at you with what look like razor blades. The shots are also fast
as hell. Braver than anything else you've fought up to this point (it
hangs around for three shots), but it dies quickly. Once it's started
shooting at you, it's hard to counter without taking damage, though.
(3000 points)
-Sideclaw: A Sidecannon with a shorter-range attack. It extends and
retracts a small mechanical taser-claw until either you blow it to
pieces or you pass it by. An easier kill than its shooty versions,
because it's vulnerable at both the base and the claw, making it easy to
hit. (4000 points)
-Dropship: This thing will not directly attack you. Rather, it tries
to hover over the road, generally trying to stop right in front of you,
and drop a Fireballer. They take a little bit to destroy, so be quick
about killing them. (5000 points, and if you destroy it quickly, you
will not fight a Fireballer. Sometimes you'll still get the points from
the Fireballer, sometimes not...)
-Fireballer: Left behind by Dropships if you don't atomize them, it
slowly inches away from you, firing BIG fireballs that you can
nevertheless blow away. Not too bad, but still, it's easier to just
vaporize the Dropships. (6000 points)
-Pistonhead: I have no idea what this thing is. It's basically little
more than a faster version of the Motorcycle. It dies quickly... If you
can kill it before it slams you. You only fight one or two. (0 points)
-Satellite Flyer: Released from the bays along the sides of the screen
late in the stage, they try to get in the vertical middle of the screen,
RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, and once they do, they retreat straight
backwards, firing FAST, tiny missiles right at you. I do not really need
to tell you that you don't stand much chance of dodging if you let them
get that far. Hope you have an Ion weapon ready. (3000 points)
0:00 - 0:40 :
Nothing much to speak of. It's just a shootout with Drillshots,
Sideclaws, and Dropships.
0:41 - 0:56 :
How the hell is it snowing in the desert?
0:57 - 2:23 :
Blink and you'll miss the Pistonhead. Blink again, and you'll probably
notice some pod bays on the sides of the road opening up. These things
spawn a single Satellite Flyer each, and there are a TON of these
things. Stay alert, and you'll eventually pass the last of the bays
safely- and you'll make it to...
2:24 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- Ultimate Twin Orbiter (100000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Orbiting missile pods
Part 2: Laser cannons
Part 1:
This thing begins shooting you a moment BEFORE it appears, and you
will be lucky to have even a few P-Laser shots left by the time you make
it here. It constantly fires missiles like those of the Satellite Flyer
out of both of its pods, and because of the rotation of the pods,
they'll cover a lot of the field. The boss itself only moves when the
road forces it to. (30000 points each pod.)
Part 2:
You know you were thinking, when you first saw this thing, that 'my,
this thing looks like a mobile M-Laser'. Guess what. It more or less is.
Now, the boss itself gets involved in the attack, firing BIG lasers out
of both of those cannons it has. You can stay between them fairly
easily, given how little the boss likes to move. Once both cannons are
destroyed, the boss explodes. I warn you now, this is one resilient
bastard and you're likely to go down a few weapon levels. Don't sweat it
though; you should come out with at least a Flasher. (20000 points per
cannon. You get no further points when the boss explodes.)
---STAGE 5---
Stage setting: A red canyon.
Initial impression: "Hey, this stage was in the intro- holy shit, that
thing coming at me is huge."
New enemies:
-Subway Streaker: Looks sort of like a scaled-down version of the ship
from the opening minutes of Spaceballs; that is to say, it's long as
hell. This is easily one of the biggest enemies in the game. However, on
the attack, it is little more than a quick, oversized Motorcycle; it
does not shoot at you. Because of its size, speed, and resilience to
attack, you will probably only destroy it if you catch it with shots
before or JUST after it appears. Ion weapons or the M-Laser are good at
hitting it from safe angles, though, and will tear it to pieces. (6000
points)
-Street Balla: A silver ball that opens up to shoot red balls at you.
You know what to do with the red ones. Do the same to the silver one. DO
NOT try to go for this thing if it's on the extreme side of the road and
you don't have an Ion weapon, or else you'll be eating roadside. Go for
it if you're on Easy, though. (8000 points!)
-Missilemaster: Imagine all those flying vehicles you've seen that
fire single missiles at you. Well, this baby's equipped with a straight-
up W-Missile that's exactly like yours. Both missiles can be blown up.
This dude WILL NOT STOP FIRING until either it dies, you die, or it
moves off-screen. Other than that, it's another damn Helicopter. I do
appreciate its active attempt to attack, though. (5000 points... WHO WOULD
HAVE THOUGHT!)
0:00 - 3:12 :
This stage has VERY little to offer in terms of surprises. You'll meet
all your enemies quickly, and you'll quickly begin cursing at the Street
Ballas that are so far to the sides of the road that you simply cannot
hit them with anything less than an Ion weapon (Easy difficulty
notwithstanding). The stage will try to make up for it by throwing heavy
waves of enemies at you, oftentimes with several Missilemasters that
fire endlessly at you until they disperse or die. I hope you have at
least a decently powerful weapon, because the resistance seems to get
increasingly more insistent the farther you go here. Just try to gack
everything to death before it slams into you or shoots you.
3:13 - 3:23 :
The road is EMPTY and you're being given TWO Frontal shields, one
after the other. Why do I think we're about to head into a boss fight?
Well...
3:24 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- Super Sidehugger (160000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Laser cannons
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
This dude takes up the entire road, hugging the sides of it with its
wheels... Guess this stage was perfectly straight for a reason. Anyway,
your first targets are the two laser cannons that shoot tiny little
lasers at you. Given that the boss does not move at all, you will not
have problems dodging the lasers. In fact, if you have the M-Laser
(you're likely to), you can hit either cannon with the laser part of
your weapon, not putting yourself in ANY danger in the process. Really,
if you've been keeping up on your weaponry, this part is a total breeze.
Hell, the M-Laser and P-Laser will destroy the lasers, thus making the
fight, once you get the P-Laser, a fight where you can literally stay in
front of the cannons, and NOT MOVE, simply firing until the cannon
explodes. (30000 points per laser cannon.)
Part 2:
THIS part is a little tricky. Remember the second boss? Of course you
do. See those tiny, tiny little portholes in the boss's front? He's
going to fire those wonderful little red balls you got acquainted with
back then, en masse, from those ports, alternating ports with every
shot. Just try to blow this thing all over the road as fast as you damn
well can, because it's a pain to dodge all the shots. You should be able
to destroy many of them, though. (100000 points once this thing goes
down.)
This is the end of the first episode. If you have the commercial
version of the game, you will immediately enter the next episode, 'The
Lost Roads'. Otherwise, the game will end right here and now.
--------EPISODE 2: THE LOST ROADS--------
"You dare enter the lost roads? We will destroy you!"
Initial impression: "Um... these roads can't be that lost if all of
us seem to know where they are, are they? Geez. And to think you
thought you'd get MY tourist dollars."
---STAGE 6---
Stage setting: Above a body of water, on a road that looks like a
disturbing combo of dirt and internal organs.
Initial impression: "Holy SHIT, I LOVE this song. So how do I make
DosBox rip the sound again...?"
New enemies:
-Buggy: Remember the APC from Stage 3? Give it what feels like a
million times the health. That's the Buggy. I hope your weapon's a
powerful one because this thing is a pain in the ASS to take down
otherwise. (5000 points)
-Helicopter (version 2): This is the same thing as the Helicopter you
fought in Stage 1- with one difference. It now fires balls at you that
you can destroy, rather than missiles that were equally destroyable. The
balls can fire anywhere, unlike the missiles, though. (Still 5000
points.)
0:00 - 0:45:
Not a lot to speak of here. Buggies will come at you, one at a time.
They absorb a relatively insane amount of punishment before dying
compared to other enemies you've been fighting, so don't get discouraged
if you're firing shot after shot into them and they refuse to die.
0:46 - 1:15:
Helicopters start making their way into the mix. Reminder- Helicopter
shots fire at your location in this stage rather than straight ahead.
1:16 - 2:21:
It seems rather strange that you'd find a Side shield here. Oops, this
must be why- submarines start appearing in the background, which you
cannot destroy. Hm, like the Side shield would do damn-all, but still.
Much like the cannons in the first stage, they'll fire indestructible
red balls at the road- the difference here is that there are FAR more of
these submarines here (which slowly make their way up the screen as
well) than there ever were cannons in that stage. They will not stop
appearing until...
2:22 - END :
BOSS FIGHT- Lit-Bolt Discuscopter (160000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Missile launchers
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
I call it the Lit-Bolt from the lightning insignias on its rear, and I
call it the Discuscopter because of the rotors on its back and its weird
circular appearance. On this freak of flying machinery, you'll first be
firing at the missile launchers on its bottom. They're hard to see, so
just watch for the places the missiles are coming from- SHOOT THEM. The
missiles, like all others, you can blow to smithereens. Should you have
an M-Laser, which you should, you can hit both cannons and all the
missiles with no trouble, assuming you keep up with its movement. (30000
points per cannon blown up.)
Part 2:
Start firing at the boss. Hit it anywhere and it'll feel the sting.
Its only attack is similar to that of the second boss- constantly shoot
destructible silver balls at you (you're probably getting used to this
shot type by this point in the stage). However, it fires them pretty
slowly and aims as if it's piloted exclusively by blind people. This is
actually a pretty pathetic boss... (100000 points once it drops.)
---STAGE 7---
Stage setting: A grate-like road, above what looks like an industrial
district.
Initial impression: "What th'... This stage is moving too damn fast!"
New enemies:
-Jetplane: Remember the Spyplane from Stage 2? Good. You know what
this is. (If you haven't by now guessed that it's worth 5000 points...)
0:00 - 2:00:
Quite frankly, you have damn-all in terms of surprises waiting for you
on this stage. Every enemy except for the Jetplane, you've already seen
on STAGE 1. The only real hazard you have to deal with on this stage is
the relatively fast movement of the zigzagging road- you will constantly
have to rock back and forth on the road in order to not eat roadside
every other second. The only other part that could prove tricky is...
2:01 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Grabistar (0 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Both claws
Part 1:
This guy is a pain in the ass! It's one of the hardest bosses in the
game if you don't know the trick... See, its only attack- to repeatedly
throw its claws out in front of it- can only be reliably avoided if
you're as far down on the screen as you can possibly go. It shouldn't
hit you very often down there; anywhere else on the screen and you're
asking for it to tear you to pieces. Shoot its claws. (NOT A SINGLE
POINT FOR DESTROYING THIS @#%$!!!?)
---STAGE 8---
Stage setting: Space. Over a space station.
Initial impression: "All right. I've suspended my disbelief enough.
Unless the Earth was somehow ripped in half by these terraformers, there
is no @#%$ way I could possible have reached space from the Industrial
Area. I WANT ANSWERS."
New enemies:</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
-Decade Falcon: Don't count on being able to destroy all of these
things; many hover too close to the sides of the screen for you to be
able to hit with anything that doesn't have the word "Ion" in its name.
It fires destructible red balls at you until it leaves the screen, be it
by disappearing off the bottom of the screen, or being ripped to shreds.
(5000 points)
-Lunar Tank: Big and slow, it SLOWLY ambles toward you, firing
destructible red balls at you all the while. Not much of a threat, even
though it absorbs a little bit of punishment before giving up the
carburetor. (3000 points)
0:00 - 4:05:
What the hell? Looks like the boss decided to show up to the party
early. Now, before you panic, don't worry about him too much. He just
lazily rocks back and forth with just the tiniest hint of vertical up-
and-down movement, firing a destructible red ball at you every once in a
while. Do realize, however, that you CANNOT hurt the boss at this point-
your shots will just pass under it- and that it obscures quite a bit of
the screen, so you might not have as much time to react to enemies. Wait
it out, it'll get its later. You'll get acquainted with your old pal,
the Sideclaw, quite hastily. The Decade Falcon and Lunar Tank aren't far
behind. I tell you now, you're not going to be facing much resistance in
this stage, and as the clock up there may let you in on, it's a long-ass
stage. Not a particularly thrilling one, at that. Persevere. Eventually
you can actually show that boss who's... um... boss.
4:06 (took long enough...) - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Sonar Shielder (100000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere
Part 1:
This thing MUST have had some shield on it because there is no other
reason it could have been able to let all your shots pass harmlessly
through it until now... Anyway, this thing's not too bad. Even though it's
changed its shot pattern- to two P-Laser wannabes from the tips on its
front!- they only cover a tiny bit of ground in front of it, and this
boss is so damn big that you can easily stay out of its way and still
blast away at it. Guess maybe this thing should've spent more time on
its weaponry R&D, rather than its shield. (100000 points once it's
down.)
---STAGE 9---
Stage setting: Murky, foggy landscape with a pipe-gridded road.
Initial impression: "This explains the space stage, Silent Hill takes
us to a lot of weird places."
New enemies:
-Racer F-U: A big F-1 car that takes up a ton of the road. You should
not be able to miss this thing. It takes a bit of punishment, so fire
fast and often. It'll fire red balls at you until you kill it. (3000
points)
-Warplane: Looks like a palette-swapped Spyplane... Finally, FINALLY
there's one of these things that poses an extreme threat. You cannot hit
the majority of these things without an Ion weapon, and they fire THREE
angled red-ball shots at a time, which you MUST move between in order to
avoid injury. They even require a couple of shots to take down! (5000
points)
-Gigabomb: A HUGE green missile that streaks right down at you with no
warning. It's fast as hell and absorbs quite a few shots before going
down, so be careful when you see these things coming- and look closely
because they blend in with the scenery a little, too! (5000 points)
0:00 - 0:15:
You IMMEDIATELY start this stage with a SHARP turn. BE READY or else
you'll get hit. Your first encounters with the Racer F-U and the
Warplane will follow quickly.
0:16 - 1:15:
Get used to this situation you just saw- a Warplane you can't hit
without Ion weapons is going to fly in the middle of the screen (or, as
will often be the case, to the extreme side of the road!) and fire three
balls at you at a time in a pattern you'll quickly get familiar with. If
you're in a horizontal line with the balls, you'll be safe, but this
isn't always an option. Advice: Your M-Laser, should you have it, can
destroy the balls if you fire it THE MOMENT the balls hit the side
cannons you have... Or, you can try to burn off all your ammo until you
have an Ion weapon, but this takes a bit of effort...
1:16 - 3:05:
You'll see your first Gigabomb here. Well, HOPEFULLY you'll see it.
Again, it blends in with the road pretty well, so I hope you personally
are good at detecting movement. LOTS of Gigabombs and Warplanes will
begin to come out as you go along, so you're probably going to take
quite a few hits here. As you might suspect, once the road finally takes
to the middle of the screen, you will fight the boss.
END:
BOSS FIGHT- Ettiandrew F-U (60000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Cannons
Part 1:
Oddly enough, this thing's wider than the F-U cars you've seen all
this stage, but no longer. Anyway, it fires red balls at you constantly
through the cannons near its rear axles. If you have an M-Laser at this
point, you can destroy all the balls and slap the cannons around quite a
bit, too. Destroy both cannons to destroy the boss. (30000 points per
cannon.)
---STAGE 10---
Stage setting: A REALLY wavy road above what looks like a rotted-out
spinal column... and skin...?
Initial impression: "All right, I give up. Who the hell would consider
THIS a safe road to drive on, and how did I even get here through the
old F-U track? Somebody's been doing some jumping..."
New enemies:
-Bat Outta Hell: An organic version of all the planes you've been
fighting to this point. It will travel mostly from side to side,
ricocheting off the side of the screen once it hits it. It fires
brownish-red (destructible) balls at you all the while until you kill
it. It's fast about it too! (5000 points, how many more times will I
have to say this, anyway?)
-Spidersnake: Looks like a cross between a spider and a snake. It'll
make its way toward you, straight down, until you blow it to pieces, at
which point it will turn into three little spiders that continue their
route down at you, more slowly at that. All are cake to kill. (5000
points for the Spidersnake, 1000 points for each spider.)
-Fungal Fly: Flies down at you in an erratic pattern, trying to fill
the screen up with fungus spots that hurt you if you collide with them.
Kill it so it'll stop releasing the fungus. The fungus can easily be
destroyed, but you don't really need it around to distract you from the
other enemies. (5000 points.)
-Bacterioid: Spawns from the sides of the screen, with no discernible
spawn points to alert you to their presence. They don't do much. They
simply try to amble in front of you, then charge right at you. They
don't take much damage. (3000 points.)
0:00 - 0:24:
Bats Outta Hell show up immediately. Also, yes, you'd better get used
to seeing more than one of them at a time. They're pretty damn common
enemies throughout this stage. Also, I may as well mention it now, this
wavy road pretty much FORCES you to move constantly. Just get used to it
for the stage being, and realize it's going to hinder your ability to
dodge anything.
0:25 - 1:06:
Spidersnakes start appearing. Not much to worry about right now,
especially given that they tend to alternate appearances with the Bats
Outta Hell.
1:07 - 1:40:
Fungal Flies begin to show up. Almost always on the left side of the
screen, too.
1:41 - 2:29:
Bacterioids begin spawning on the sides of the screen. From this point
until you go to Stage 11, they do not stop spawning. Ever. This includes
during the boss fight. Luckily, they're but minor nuisances, but they're
CONSTANT nuisances. Just TRY to keep up with the damn road until you are
slowly, SLOWLY presented with...
2:30 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Broozeley (90000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Eyes
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
Thing certainly takes its time showing itself. Once the dragon enters,
shoot away at its eyes. Before I go on, know that you'll be attacked by
Bacterioids and spiders throughout the entire course of this fight. If
you see smoke coming out of Broozeley's nostrils (the smoke won't hurt
you), try to get out of the way of its front; it'll breathe fire at you
that's hard to avoid given the nature of the road. (20000 points for
either eye you shoot out.)
Part 2:
Exactly the same as the first part. You're just shooting wherever you
damn well please now. (50000 points once you kill this thing.)
This marks the end of the second episode. Because the only way you
could get HERE in the first place was to have the commercial version of
the game, you will now immediately enter the final episode, 'Anarchy'.
--------EPISODE 3: ANARCHY--------
"You see freedom in the distance. The final chapter your escape
begins!" (Typed as seen, I'm afraid.)
Initial impression: "Right right. Move MASTER, for great justice."
---STAGE 11---
Stage setting: An icy mountain range.
Initial impression: "Holy crap... Music's creepy as hell and the whole
place looks so bleak; could they make this stage a LITTLE less ominous?"
New enemies:
-Unstealth Bomber: Lazily makes its way across the screen, shooting
what look like snowballs at you at a fairly quick pace. I can't be
certain, but it only seems to fire when it's over the road. They take
quite a bit of damage to drop... (5000 points)
-Slider: It sure LOOKS like it should be shooting at you, shouldn't
it? It basically just streaks down from the top of the screen, blatantly
trying to smash into you- it moves from side to side in its attempt to
slam into you. (3000 points)
0:00 - 0:21:
See those rocks? You're going to hate these things. They come down at
you pretty quickly, they come down in mass amounts, AND YOU CAN'T
DESTROY THEM NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. JUST the thing you need if either A)
this is your starting stage, or B) you just LOVE the idea of fighting
Unstealth Bombers at the same time. Actually, B applies nonetheless-
you'll be doing it a LOT throughout this stage.
0:22 - 0:35:
A Slider will try to catch you off guard the moment the rocks stop
coming. Be ready, and consider this your introduction to their blatant
kamikaze technique. You'll still see an occasional rock.
0:36 - 0:44:
Dammit, not another rock blitz so soon.
0:45 - 1:20:
Hm, that was fast. Lucky you. You will again immediately be set upon
by a Slider. Also, you will fight a frickin' battalion of Unstealth
Bombers, so try to destroy them all before they reach the middle part of
the screen.
1:21 - 1:55:
Onward came ANOTHER rock blitz.
1:56 - 2:14:
Yes, again you'll take a Slider blitz the moment the rock blitz ends.
The boss is about to show up. Once you see how ugly it is, you'll
actually probably wish it was just another rock blitz.
2:15 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Breakneck Ratty (50000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere
Part 1:
This is the ugliest damn thing I've ever seen in my life. Thank
goodness it's so damn easy to beat. Simply shoot it with whatever you
have. Its ONLY attack- a forward charge- it telegraphs by moving toward
the horizontal middle of the screen. It also has a disturbingly low
lifespan- it will likely die after a few seconds of sustained gunfire
(bear in mind I had an M-Laser- that I did not have dropped to a P-
Laser- throughout the entire course of this fight). (50000 points for
wiping this ugly bastard from the face of the planet.)
---STAGE 12---
Stage setting: A desert, on a dirt road.
Initial impression: "This music is WAY too peppy for this game. It
makes it seem as if I shouldn't be fighting an insane alien force,
rather, simply taking myself out for a simple drive on the back roads...
How appropriate that that's exactly what this stage looks like, too..."
New enemies:
-Hot Air Balloon: SLOWLY makes its way down the screen, traveling from
side to side FAR more than it does up to down. It does not directly
attack- however, once destroyed, it acts like a Spikemine- it releases
four red balls in diagonal directions. If you destroy the balloons as
soon as they appear, it won't be much of a worry, though. (5000 points)
-Hard Rider: A tiny, black motorcycle that QUICKLY makes its way to
the bottom of the screen. Its only attack is to crash into you much like
the Motorcycles on Stage 1, but it moves so quickly that it might well
succeed if you aren't fast enough to destroy it. (6000 points)
0:00 - 1:45:
This is a nice, easy stage. It makes up quite a bit for the pain in
the ass that was the previous stage... Still got your M-Laser? Hang out in
the dead middle of the (completely straight) road and just fire the
moment you see hostiles. You'll kill them. The Hot Air Balloons (which
come out in series of three or four) and the Hard Riders come out in
huge numbers- you get a lot of points for destroying either one, so you
should get a few extra health points when all is said and done. If you
don't have an M-Laser, that's okay. Just try to shoot down all you can;
the road isn't much of an obstacle here.
1:46 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Evil Knievel (50000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere
Part 1:
This is a VERY quick fight, which is good because he could've been
pretty dangerous had he more HP. This giant biker moves from side to
side, firing red balls at you at an extremely fast pace. However, as
stated, he has so little health that you'll take him out before he gets
too many of them out. (50000 points once it drops.)
---STAGE 13---
Stage setting: Cobblestone road above a clumpy-looking desert.
Initial impression: "What'd they pave this road in? Lava?"
New enemies:
-Giant Buggy: Oddly enough, despite being about twice the size as the
Buggy in Stage 6, it has far less health. It slowly makes its way toward
you, shooting orange balls at you once every three years. (3000 points)
-Unusually Mobile Debris: Sort of like firing squads, these things
travel in packs, all shooting orange balls at you at the same time. Try
to destroy them as soon as they appear or else it'll get tricky to dodge
the shots. (3000 points)
-Satellite Flyer MkII: The same as the Satellite Flyers from WAY the
hell back in Stage 4, but their missiles are now green, and they spawn
out of nowhere in the sides of the screen. Ion weapons are still the
weapons of choice. Amusingly, if, on their way up, they slam into the
road, they'll die without you firing a shot. (3000 points)
0:00 - 0:27:
Giant Buggies and Unusually Mobile Debris start appearing pretty
quickly, and the fast, oft-curvy road means that you're going to be
doing a LOT of fast, probably unintended moving on this stage. Try to
take out the enemies before they get to shoot, because you are NOT going
to be dodging much on this road. Or shoot their shots, really, either
works...
0:28 - 1:18:
Satellite Flyer MkIIs start appearing out of nowhere. They'll join the
usual complement of enemies.
1:19 - 1:56:
You've seen the last of the Satellite Flyer MkIIs, and the rest of
this stage is much like the first part.
1:57 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Phooraink (100000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Eyes
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
This giant fly lazily flies from side to side (and for some reason, it
never seems to want to deviate from the right half of the screen),
occasionally (and without warning) firing a thin blue P-Laser at you.
Shoot it in the eyes, but try to get the timing of its laser down before
you attack- you almost HAVE to get in the range of that laser in order
to hit the eyes unless you have an M-Laser. Each eye you destroy will
begin firing orange balls at you. (You don't get any points for
destroying either eye.)
Part 2:
Phooraink no longer has the ability to fire lasers at this point; all
it does is fire orange balls from its eyes at this point. Shoot it until
its guts splatter. (100000 points once you've applied the final swat.)
---STAGE 14---
Stage setting: A jungle, on a bamboo road.
Initial impression: "I hope my car doesn't fall through this road.
That'd really suck right now."
New enemies:
There are no new enemies on this stage. Every enemy on this stage
hails from Stage 3.
0:00 - 0:20:
Several Laser Vehicles are just DYING to catch you off guard the
moment the stage begins, which they probably will. Also, you'll see Side
Lasercannons and APCs shortly after.
0:21 - 0:25:
Oh hell NO! Remember the Spikemines? HERE THEY ARE!
0:26 - 1:11:
...There they went. Hm, I doubt you'll be so lucky next time. It's back
to the first part of this stage as far as enemies go.
1:12 - 1:40:
Rainin'. The background otherwise disappears now, leaving you with the
rain and the road. Army Jets will begin appearing now, too.
1:41 - 1:58:
Prepare to start seeing a few more Spikemines.
1:59 - 2:03:
The Spikemines hold off... in exchange for those blue rockets from Stage
3 doing their thing again. This time, you can't tell where they're going
to fire from by looking at the background. You can still destroy them
for 3000 points each.
2:04 - 2:40:
Bah, you know what? The Spikemines figured the rockets needed company.
2:41 - 3:36:
Make up your friggin' minds, Spikemines! The Spikemines AGAIN hold
off, but now you're fighting rockets and normal foes.
3:37 - 3:57:
One last round of Spikemines, which you have no choice but to shoot
through... Then there's nothing for a little while... Oops, wait, I take
that back, here comes something.
3:58 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- M-1 Abrahams (70000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Turret
Part 2: Anywhere
Part 1:
Fairly simple, although you once again will have to get in range of
its attack in order to do damage most of the time. Shoot it in the
turret it's using to fire lasers at you. (20000 points once the turret's
ripped off.)
Part 2:
See that hole in the top of the tank? You probably can't because it's
constantly firing silver balls at you. Shoot the tank, hopefully taking
out as many of its shots as you can in the process. (50000 points once
it explodes.)
---FINAL STAGE! STAGE 15---
Stage setting: A pulsing cityscape with girders above the road.
Initial impression: "Right... Hard to believe that after so many levels,
I reach something RESEMBLING civilization again. Oh well. Let's do
this."
New enemies:
-Splitter: A big, spiky-looking thing that slowly ambles down the
screen, firing red balls at you. Once you blow it up, it splits into two
halves on the side of the road, both of which fire red balls, and stay
put until you blow THEM up too. (5000 points for the main body, and 5000
points for each part that splits off.)
-RV: Starts off slowly at the top of the screen, then makes a fairly
quick charge down at you. (6000 points)
-Flyin' RV: Flies from side to side, slowly making its way down the
screen, firing red balls at you. If you don't destroy it (or you do but
it's over the road at the time), it morphs into a plain ol' RV. (5000
points)
-Barrier: An electric barrier that WILL hurt you if you don't destroy
it before it gets too close. Simply shoot at the electrode that sticks
out from the side of the road more to get rid of it- since the screen is
partially obscured, you'll have to be quick to figure out which side
that is! (5000 points)
-Jet Spikemine: The same as any other Spikemine, but it moves toward
you more slowly, so that you're pretty much bound to hit it. Hello,
diagonal balls o' red. (Still no points for this one.)
0:00 - 0:50:
About ten seconds are spent to show you one of the worst things you'll
be dealing with on this stage- those girders are going to CONSTANTLY
obscure the screen. The enemies- the Splitter, the Street Balla
(remember Stage 5?), and the RV- are fairly simple and come at you one
at a time. Destroy the Splitters and their parts quickly, though, or
else they'll start to cause problems.
0:51 - 1:16:
Here comes a Flyin' RV. Also, the enemies start to show up in slightly
greater numbers.
1:17 - 1:51:
The first of many Barriers you'll see in this stage is right in front
of you. Figure out which side you can destroy quickly, or else you'll be
eating lightning. Like I said, this is the first of many, so get used to
the procedure. Enemy numbers begin to increase again.
1:52 - 2:56:
You're going to start seeing Jet Spikemines now. I don't just mean a
few. These are TONS of these things all over the road, and like it or
not, because you have a lot of enemies on the road as well, you're GOING
to be holding down the fire button.
2:57 - 6:37:
The Jet Spikemines stop... Now you've got another worry. The girders
blocking your view are closer together than ever before, AND they're
dropping explosives on you. You're at your safest in the left lane, but
all the explosives will drop more or less in the center of the road. To
sweeten the deal, you'll still be fighting enemies- lots of them- during
this whole sequence. Some Jet Spikemines will appear here and there, but
not too many compared to earlier.
6:38 - 7:00:
Damn, that took a while. Only a few enemies separate you from the last
boss. Once you see what look like piledrivers poking out, it's go time.
7:01 - END:
BOSS FIGHT- Stereotype (80000 points total)
Weak points- Part 1: Rollerball bay
Part 2: Pistons
Part 3: Ion Guns
Part 4: Anywhere
Part 1:
This is it. You're up against the biggest damn enemy in the game,
which only makes sense considering that the aliens know that this is
their last chance to stop you. Ironically enough, though, I consider
this to be one of the easiest bosses, ESPECIALLY considering how drained
your ammo stock is at this point (you will have, at BEST, a block or two
of P-Laser ready to go here, and that was when I was being ultra-
conservative with my shots). They must realize that there's not much
point to really BOTHERING to take you down- you read my little plot
analysis.
Anyway, here's what you have to do. There are no less than FIVE
targets. In the center, where you would be wise to stay, is a bay that
releases destructible red balls every so often. Simply stay in front of
that bay and fire fire fire until it blows up. You will destroy all the
balls and you are in NO danger from anything else here. (10000 points
once it's rolled its last ball.)
Part 2:
Next up are the pistons. Right now, you likely have an Ion weapon of
your own firing. STAY PUT and continue firing. You'll destroy the
pistons without putting yourself in the slightest danger. You may, of
course, speed this up considerably by moving in front of a piston that's
retracted and shoot at it that way, moving out of the way once it starts
coming out again. You can destroy the Ions en route to and from the
center of the screen that way. (No points for either piston.)
Part 3:
Next are the Ion Guns. Here's what you do. Move in front of Ion Gun
one. Fire until it dies, destroying every last ion in the process. Move
in front of Ion Gun two. Fire until it dies, destroying every last ion
in the process. (10000 points for each Ion Gun destroyed.)
Part 4:
From this point forward, simply fire your ass off. YOU WILL HIT THIS
BOSS. It fires giant red balls that you can destroy out of both wings.
Wanna know something nice? Stay near the very bottom of the screen, so
you can see your whole car except for a bit of the rear bumper. Stay in
the dead middle of the screen. THE BALLS CANNOT HIT YOU. Fire until this
rather sad last boss explodes. That is right, unless you want to destroy
this boss with a little more speed, YOU ARE LITERALLY IN NO DANGER OF
GETTING HURT AT ANY TIME DURING THIS FIGHT. (50000 points once you've
won.)
Nice work; you've beaten the game. Enjoy the ending, short as it is.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 13:
CLOSING
I guess that's about everything I set out to say and do. I hope this
guide was either useful or a good read. If it was both, hey, 50000 bonus
points for everyone. If it was useful for you, I hope you enjoyed
Highway Hunter as well. Feel free to take a look at other wiseassery
I've made at
http://yukatakeuchifan.kiwibonga.com, although I'll warn
you now, if you don't much care for busty anime girls, you're really not
going to care for the place that much. Whatever it is you plan on doing
after closing this off, enjoy it, eh?
You can contact me about this guide at:
yukatakeuchifan (at) gmail (dot) com .
I have better things to do than read flames, so if you either have a
beef with my guide or you're an errant 4chan member that doesn't like
me, you can, in this order-
You have a problem with my guide: Please tell me what the problems
with my guide are and how I might be able to fix them. I'll consider
them and act as I feel is appropriate.
You simply feel like making trouble: Go stab your throat.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 14:
END
This game guide for Highway Hunter was written by me, Yuka Takeuchi
Fan (also known as Bo Kurland). I honestly don't give a damn if this is
posted anywhere else, but please at least be fair and tell me if you'd
like to do so. Gotta stroke my ego somehow. I'd tell you to not sell
this guide for money, but frankly, if you can find someone dumb enough
to buy a guide for an 11-year-old game that they know they can find on
GameFAQs anyway, they friggin' DESERVE to lose their money and you're
probably doing the world a favor in some obscure fashion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Phase 15:
REALLY THE END THIS TIME
For the love of Komon, DO SOMETHING ELSE NOW!
