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Copyright Activision 1982
Written By Brian P. Sulpher
E-mail:
[email protected]
Version 1.1
Dates Written: April 5th, 2004
I dedicate this one to Jennifer Dixon. Her complete and utter love for this
game has convinced me to write this FAQ. I love ya babe, and I still think
back on the wild circumstances that we met through, and the even more amazing
events that led to us getting together! I LOVE YOU.. YOU'RE BETTER THAN ICE
CREAM!
Also, for Cougar, Howler, Koonce, and Gracey. I miss you, and I hope you
are living it up in the afterlife as you did in this world. You will always
be in my memories, and you will never be forgotten.
-----------
Version 1.0
-----------
-Submitted FAQ on January 30th, 2004
-I always welcome contributions, so send them in!
-----------
Version 1.1
-----------
-Submitted guide on February 8th, 2005
-I added in Honestgamers as a site allowed to use my FAQs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------Table Of Contents------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Introduction
2) Controls
3) Walkthrough
4) Points
5) Gameplay Mechanics
6) Final Word
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Introduction-------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) The following is straight from the Megamania manual and in no way is the
creative work of Brian P. Sulpher.
If you think Megamania is just another space game, you're dreaming. And
that dream will become a nightmare. A space nightmare. So, prepare
yourself for one of the most unreal experiences you'll ever encounter.
You control a fleet of mobile blasters at the bottom of the screen, under
constant attack by wave after wave of outrageous objects. Your goal is
to accumulate points by knocking out as many enemy objects as possible,
before your fleet is destroyed.
Ah, classic space shooting goodness! Nothing quite like it, and with the
fun little twists on the enemies you face also makes this fun little
shooter stand out from the multitudes of other space shooters that were
released as the gaming favourites in this timeframe. So, get your
reflexes ready, heading out into space to fight off impossibly high
numbers of enemies, seeing how high you can drive your score!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------Controls---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) This section will cover the controls for this fun little space shooter.
Control Stick: LEFT and RIGHT will move your current Blaster in the
corresponding direction rpessed.
Red Button : Fires off your laser at incoming enemies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Walkthrough--------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) This section will take a look at all of the levels contained with the
first loop of the enemy sprites, followed by a summary of how the enemy
improves their tactics within each "family" of enemy type.
o-----------o
| Level One |
o-----------o
Hamburgers are your first challenge, but they fight in the simplest possible
pattern as they move across the screen, going left to right at a constant
speed. They will fire a few shots as they move across, but the long
distance them and your Blaster leaves tons of time to dodge the incoming
death.
o-----------o
| Level Two |
o-----------o
Cookies are next, offering some increased challenge as they will weave left
and right wile slowly descending towards your Blaster. If they get low
enough, you will need to dodge them while you continue to shoot the ones
that are following the ones who survived their diving attack on your
Blaster, getting them once they reappear at the top of the screen. They do
not drop many missiles of their own, but their weaving attack can make them
tough to pick off, allowing them to get right in close and touch your
Blaster.
o-------------o
| Level Three |
o-------------o
Bugs are next up, which behave quite similarly to Hamburgers in that they
fire off shots while moving across the screen, left to right. However,
they will also slowly descend towards your Blaster removing a large portion
of the area their missiles have to travel. They will eventually start to
rise again, but when they are in close they are severe threats to hit your
Blaster with a well-placed shot.
o------------o
| Level Four |
o------------o
Radial Tires are next up, offering up what is often considered the toughest
level of the loop. They weave left and right much like Cookies, but they
descend much faster, making them viable targets for your Blaster for just a
few moments before they are too low to be shot. If you can not clear out
large portions of their attack line, concentrate on dodging their movements
while firing random shots off in hopes of picking off the follow up units.
o------------o
| Level Five |
o------------o
Diamonds fight identically to Bugs, except they fire off more shots and are
far smaller targets, making them extremely tough to pick off. They also
fire off more missiles than any enemy in the previous areas, making the
importance of killing as many as you can at the start while they are farther
away very important to your Blaster's survival.
o-----------o
| Level Six |
o-----------o
Steam irons are up next, offering up what is perhaps the most annoying
attack pattern. They will attack by coming down in three columns of enemies
that change their position almost every time that your Blaster passes under
a column. They will need to be shot as they change positions most of the
time, making for some precarious laser exchanges between them and your
Blaster.
o-------------o
| Level Seven |
o-------------o
Bow Ties are the last member of the left to right movement family, but they
offer up the most missile fire while doing so as well as moving up and down
continually. They make their laser fire shots when they are lower usually,
allowing less dodging time. Clear them quickly to make some safe spots
between the remaining enemies, as this will make it easier to destroy the
rest (giving you a moment to plan your next attack set).
o-------------o
| Level Eight |
o-------------o
Space Dice are the lone remaining challenge at the end of the Loop, and they
will fall in scattered patterns continually, changing where they appear at
the top of the screen after exiting the bottom of the screen. Stay in one
small area, taking out the Space Dice that threaten your Blaster, moving out
more once their numbers have been thinned considerably.
o------------------o
| Loop Two Onwards |
o------------------o
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ The "Left To Right" Family ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Members: Hamburgers, Bugs, Diamonds, Bow Ties
They will continue to move left to right, increasing their frequency of
missile attacks, but they will also have new trick in stopping for a second
or two before speeding off incredibly fast to the right before resuming
their normal speed of movement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ The "Weaving Downward" Family ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Members: Cookies, Radial Tires, Space Dice
These guys will increase the speed they move at downwards while also
increasing the frequency at which they change their side to side movements.
These tough guys just become that much tougher. Note that the Space Dice
enter this family starting on Loop Two (as they are not part of it in the
first Loop).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ The "Steam Irons" Family ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Members: Steam Irons
Unique enough to have their own family, they will continue to use the same
tactics as before, but they will fire more shots while they will move left
and right more frequently to throw off your aim.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------Points----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) This section will take a look at all aspects of Points, including the
level formulas, time remaining bonus, and extra lives.
o----------------o
| Level Formulas |
o----------------o
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Loop One ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These scores are for every enemy unit you destroy.
Hamburger [Level One] : 20
Cookies [Level Two] : 30
Bugs [Level Three] : 40
Radial Tires [Level Four]: 50
Diamonds [Level Five] : 60
Steam Irons [Level Six] : 70
Bow Ties [Level Seven] : 80
Space Dice [Level Eight] : 90
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Loop Two & Onwards ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
90 Points per enemy unit you destroy.
o----------------------o
| Time Remaining Bonus |
o----------------------o
Every Level is timed by your Blaster's energy bar, which will continually
deplete as the fight wears on. Once every enemy unit is wiped out, the
game takes your remaining energy bar, and multiplies the remaining ticks
with the value of a single enemy from the current Level. Your energy bar
begins at 80 ticks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Example ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
45 energy ticks remaining X 30 enemy point value = 1350 Points
So, if you have the maximum amount of Blasters in reserve (ie 6 Blasters),
and you are in a level where one enemy remains, you may wish to manipulate
the game into getting a higher score as no more Blasters may be stored.
Purposely get your current Blaster destroyed, followed up by wrecking the
lone remaining enemy on the next life with a barely emptied energy bar,
leading to a much higher bonus that will more than likely result in a new
Blaster to replace the on that was just sacrificed.
o-------------o
| Extra Lives |
o-------------o
These are gained each time that score reaches a multiple of 10000 Points.
The game will be slow to reach this level at first, but once you reach Level
Five or so, these extra men can quickly start to pile up for you.
1st 1-Up: 10000
2nd 1-Up: 20000
3rd 1-Up: 30000
etc. etc. etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------Gameplay Mechanics----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) This section will take a look at the Gameplay Mechanics, mainly the
capabilities of your Blaster and the rules on how the enemy moves around
the screen.
o-------------o
| The Blaster |
o-------------o
Although it can only move LEFT or RIGHT along the bottom of the screen, it's
laser has unqiue settings. If you are on Game One or Two, your laser blast
can be steered by moving your Control Stick in the direction you wish the
blast to go (LEFT or RIGHT only). Note that this moves your Blaster as
well. Game Three or Four do not allow for steering of the laser shot.
Game One or Two also offer continual fire by holding down the Red Button,
but Game Three or Four require continual pressings to launch new shots.
o-----------------o
| Enemy Movements |
o-----------------o
Whenever an enemy passes through the side of the screen, they will appear on
the far side of the screen due to the looping nature of the level. The same
holds true for any enemy who passes through the bottom of the screen, as
they will loop back to the top of the screen to renew their attack once
more!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Final Word---------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) As is the usual, this walkthrough is copyright property of Brian P.
Sulpher, 2004. The only website, group, person, etc. to have access to
post it is www.gamefaqs.com, www.ign.com, and www.honestgamers.com. You
must ask for permission before posting this, as doing so without consent
is a violation of international copyright law.
If you liked it, hated it, have anything to add, then please E-mail me at
[email protected]. You can also contact me through MSN messenger
through the same E-mail address.
Amazingly fun, this is a game that I still play regularly because of the
great action involved with it. Besides, in what other space shooter can
you shoot up Hamburgers, Radial Tires, and even Space Dice anyway!?
