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Layer Section I (Galactic Attack/Rayforce) FAQ
Written By: Scott Clemmons (SClemmons/FFMrebirth)
Last Updated: 10/27/04
Genre: Vertical Shooter
Publisher: Acclaim
Developer: Taito
File Version: Final
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- Table of Contents -
A1. Contacting Me
B1. Introduction
C1. Basics
C2. Weapon System
C3. Miscellaneous
D1. Bosses
E1. Area 1: Red Power to Pierce Through
F1. Area 2: The Gravity of Blue Side
G1. Area 3: The Phantasm of Silver
H1. Area 4: The Fissure of Consciousness
I1. Area 5: Toward the Darkness
J1. Area 6: The End of Deep Layer
K1. Area 7: Releasing Infinitely
L1. Disclaimer
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: : `. `. A1. Contacting Me |
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:___.'`.__.'/ Reading mail happens to be a hobby of mine. I like to hear from
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ my fans or lack of. If you're too lazy to send me mail, drop me
by a message on AIM. My name is: swtzwondrboy20. This is public screen name
for my writing since I got tired of people contacting me on my other one. The
e-mail address to contact me is listed below:
scottclemmons [at] gmail.com
It lacks originality but gets the job done just the same.
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: : `. `. B1. Introduction |
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:___.'`.__.'/ Layer Section (Galactic Attack/Rayforce) was a great start to an
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ultimately forgettable shooter series. Layer Section's main
nuance was that the enemies existed on two 'planes' of existence entirely.
You could only attack the bottom plane enemies with lasers and the top one
with your requisite cannons. Layer Section I features a pretty rockin’
soundtrack onto of some ambitious game play. Its followers, Raystorm (Layer
Section II) and Raycrisis played almost like water-down pastiche compared to
its forerunner.
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: : `. `. C1. Basics |
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:___.'`.__.'/ Layer Section has quite an concept added in its game play
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ that really makes it stand out when compared to other shooters of
its time. The player is going to have to understand this concept and utilize
it during play to get the most out of the game. Let's get a quick explanation
of it in before I continue on.
Realize there are two fields here, the top one is where our cannons reach and
the bottom is where our lasers reach. Also realize that there are basically
three types of enemies in the game. The first one is the enemy that can't be
hit by your cannons. These enemies often are stuck to the ground so we're
going to have to hit them with lasers. There are then enemies that start on
the bottom field and ascend to the top field so we're usually able to inflict
damage upon them with the lasers before they make it up. Finally, there are
enemies that are on the top field and just stay there. Enemies in this group
are mostly composed quick fliers that come on the screen, shoot at you then
leave as if nothing ever happened.
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- C2. Weapon System -
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Since that's cleared out of the way now, we're able to look at how the weapons
system works.
1 2 3 4
0------------------0-------0-------0--------0-------0
| Color of Laser | Blue | Green | Yellow | Red |
| Number of Lasers | 5 (3) | 6 (4) | 7 (4) | 8 (4) |
0------------------0-------0-------0--------0-------0
Gather the 'L' signs that float around after destroying an enemy to increase
your attack power and ability to lock onto more enemies. The blue laser is
the weakest and can only lock onto five enemies. The chart above shows you
how many enemies you're able to lock-on to on what level. Numbers in
parenthesis denote the maximum number of enemies able to locked-on to while
playing with another person.
There are two types of power-ups that red colored monsters drop after you
defeat them: yellow power-ups and Red power-ups. Gather as many of these as
you are able to make your weapon more effective against top layer enemies.
All bosses fall very fast once you get your cannons to red power.
- In case you're having trouble with the game on four credits, there is a
code that you're able to use that'll give you a grand total of eight
credits. Here is the code:
== Left+Right+Holding Left on the Control Pad+Holding C and press start ==
- You gain extra lives every 500,000 points or about two levels about.
- Always keep your eye close to your ship when you're flooded with attacks
from the enemy. Don't bother damaging anything; instead, make sure you get
out of the situation scotch free first by dodging what they dish our.
- Like most shooters, you're not going to beat this game the first time. It
took me about three days total to get through the entire seven levels.
It requires a lot of patience on the part of the player to beat games in
this genre.
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: : `. `. D1. Bosses |
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:___.'`.__.'/ Below are a list of the bosses in which you'll face throughout
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ the course of the game. Each one gets harder as you make your
way further into the game. Hopefully this guide will facilitate the process
of beating later bosses, which are no doubt difficult compared to other
shooters.
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- (E1.) Area 1: Red Power to Pierce Through -
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This boss will have a total of three weak spots where you'll be able to damage
him. First, we're going to focus on the left or right side of him. These wings
will fire out plasma balls in your direction so just avoid them at all costs.
After he takes a breaks, just release on either one of these two wings until
it blows up. With one wing gone, the other one will fall right off. Now he'll
bring up two more guns that have the ability to fire blue laser in a straight
line. Again, just focus fire on one of these until it breaks off, taking the
other one with it. While doing this, watch out for the attacks that the middle
part of the boss employs. He'll fire two large blue lasers right in front of
him at random times so you're going to have to be careful here.
The boss will then have another two parts combined with the middle section.
These parts, again, do nothing but shoot out plasma balls your way. You can
do either one of two things here: attack the middle head on or take out the two
sides for more points. If you choose to take out the two sides, go ahead and
just keep the pressure on them until they blow up. It doesn't take a lot of
damage to destroy them.
Alternatively, you could just focus all your attention on the middle from the
start, but that'd be a lot more risky than just systematically picking him
apart piece by piece. Keep the pressure on the middle after he's weak and the
boss will die shortly thereafter.
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- (F1.) Area 2: The Gravity of Blue Side -
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This boss is more annoying than anything else. Here is his basic design:
____ ____
\ A \_______/ A /
----' '----
/ \
|D_(B)_D|
\ C| |C /
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Section C has to go first simply because its ability to fabricate enemies from
nothing is rather annoying. While we're focusing on section C, the other parts
are usually always attack at us. The core, B, will release a circle of blue
balls at us every few seconds while A keeps firing red plasma attacks at us
relentlessly. Not a fun situation and once those fabricated ships make their
way to the top, we're in trouble. We'll have to take them out, dodge the rest
of the fire and keep trying to weaken down the boss. Once you manage to get
rid of C, cut the crap and go right after B, the core. Section D can't even
be destroyed so don't bother with it. The most it'll do it simply fire out
four green homing lasers that you'll have to dodge.
Working at this for a while will blow the top off the boss, exposing a weak
point. Next, we have to lock on with our lasers and just keep lying in until
the entire ship turns into a 3D fire frame; he's now vulnerable to all
attacks. Nothing else is going to come after us while he's in this stage. The
boss is almost dead when his wire frame turns dark red.
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- (G1.) Area 3: The Phantasm of Silver -
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Area 3's boss resembles an overgrown stingray. The tail, or the glowing ball
in front of you at all times, is the weak point; however, the game makes sure
that you're not going to be able to damage it at all times. Once the battle
starts, open up fire with your lasers on the ball until the two guns on top
begin to assault you. At this point, keep in the middle, right below the ball
until the fire subsides. This will involve you having to dodge a few bullets
as well. The ship will start coming in closer and closer until you're almost
squished. The boss will then blast off to the top of the screen again.
Once he reaches the top of the screen, a hatch will open up that lays mines
in the air. You can blast your way through this though I recommend just going
to the side and dodging the regular laser beams instead
Notice the four guns that appear on each wing of the boss. At the beginning
these will just fire out regular plasma beams that are relatively easy to
avoid. Later, however, they'll shoot lasers that'll stop, turn around and come
for you, making them harder to avoid. While this is going on, the guns atop
the ship will keep firing blue lasers at you, making it one hell of a mess.
To take care of this, you can destroy the guns on top of the ship, though this
takes quite a while. Instead, what I did was just focused all my fire power
on the weak point until it turned red, then finished it off. If you're
skirmish about doing this, take out the guns then you can also take out the
wings, but the lasers there will still keep coming back. There are no real
easy ways to beat this guy other than learning his attack pattern and knowing
when to get out of the way.
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- (H1.) Area 4: The Fissure of Consciousness -
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Think of one huge hermit crab that has one hell of a large attack arsenal and
that's Area 4's boss. On each of his claws he'll have a gun that can shoot a
homing green beam. Take both of them out on the frontal left and right claws
to weaken his attacks just a tad. During the course of the entire match the
boss will persistently eject blue mines at you. DO NOT HIS THESE. If for some
reason you do, they'll explode and really take up a lot of space.
Sometimes you'll hear a long, high-pitched sound that doesn't seem to stop.
This is a cue to move the heck out of the way before he releases a beam that
eats up a huge chunk space on the screen. Move to the left or right to dodge
this.
We're going to go right after his legs since that's how you go about killing
this guy. Work on blowing off one of his legs and dodging the little mines
he shoots forth. After one leg is gone, he'll usually start really sending
out the green homing beams. I'd focus my attention purely on dodging the
10+ beams that he fires in rapid succession. After this, go back to work on
a back leg until it blows apart and he falls down into the fissure, leaving
us alone forever.
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- (I1.) Area 5: Toward the Darkness -
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While the boss has a lot of areas to attack, focus primarily on the head for
the time being since we want to get this battle over with as soon as possible.
The boss will bring up two cannons and you'll hear charging sounds. Move
out of the way right now. He'll release purple beams that strike very fast
followed by about 50+ plasma balls aimed at you. To be honest, there is a lot
of dodging involved in this part. There are no real strategies you can give
to this since it's based on shooter skill alone. If you make it through this
plethora of attacks, get back into the center and keep attacking his head.
Again, move out of the way once he rears his arm back to punch you. He'll do
this with both arms before pulling up the cannons again. Once you inflict
enough damage, the boss will ascend to the top of the screen and begin to
charge up again. He'll release about six waves green beams that are randomly
shot throughout on the screen. Remember, keep the pressure on his head enough
and it'll blow off, revealing his weak point.
His next attack is nothing more than firing about ten plasma balls at you
while you're attacking his weak point. He'll also put his hands out and fire
about six over-sized glistening balls of power that'll pause for a while then
come right for you. I'd stop shooting at the boss and focus more on dodging
at this time. He'll blow up soon enough and you can go to the next stage.
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- (J1.) Area 6: The End of Deep Layer -
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For a shooter boss, this one is a pain in the ass. He has no real attack
pattern, rather an ability to randomly throw out a lot of crap at once all
over the screen. It begins easy enough; you'll be there and he'll start off
with shooting four beams right in front of him. Don't even bother with these
things on the side, really, just go right for the gusto. Take out the
protective covering around his weak point. Now all hell breaks loose.
Before you know it, crap hits the fan. He'll shoot out plasma beams that'll
go straight down, home in on you or just go all around the screen. I'd
recommend getting in a corner when he uses this move so you're able bait
the projectiles in the corner and leave. Other times, he'll fire out little
round laser balls that'll emanate from center. Then, to top things off, these
balls end up firing out another 10 shots that spread across the screen
followed by the ball homing in on you. Not fun. Other times, he'll combine
this with releasing huge plasma balls raining down on you. The advice I can
give to you is: Watch where you're going and get in all the attacks you can.
The guy doesn't have a lot of hits compared to other bosses but can kill you
before you're able to really inflict a lot of damage. Probably the hardest
boss in the game.
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- (K1.) Area 7: Releasing Infinitely -
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The main boss has three forms. The first part is pretty easy compared to
other bosses in the game. First, we're going to focus on the two points that
are around where his shoulders are. Once the battle commences, start firing
your lasers right at these immediately. There is a part of his body in the
front near the middle that cannot be damaged so don't worry about it. Once
you see a little metal object from the middle ascend towards into his body
and the shoulders start to glow, he's going to release an attack. He'll start
off by releasing about ten flying ships. Note during all of this, he'll be
firing a lot of regular bullets in your general direction, making things
harder than they should be. Once you get rid of one shoulder, it'll be
a lot easier to finish off the other one. The main reason for focusing
on one shoulder at a time is because they're able to fire out annoying
super homing lasers that are hard to shake.
After you blow apart both of his weak points, half of his body will break
off and the other half will plummet to the ground. He'll now throw out
an additional set of arms and begin an inexorable assault. This is no fun.
The first thing you should do it take care of the arms that your cannons
are able to reach, since this will greatly reduce the effectiveness of an
attack he utilized later on in the battle. After a while, he'll go off
the screen and come back on only to release the hardest attack to dodge
in the entire game. The screen will be filled with fast-paced green
projectiles heading right for us. I'd pause the game and look for an
opening right about now to be honest. That's what I did. Anyway, so if
you manage to make it through this part of the battle, he'll come back
onto the screen. Keep the pressure on his arms until they're destroyed then
work on the other two with your lasers. Once you hear a high-pitched
sound, he's charging up a move that creates a vacuous void that'll
suck you in. He'll begin firing out red balls that'll explode into little
plasma balls (god I hate that word) that'll home in on us. The process
of dodging becomes more difficult once we realize we're no longer able to
move around very well. After you destroy this section of the boss, his
body will fall down to the ground again and we'll be on the last part.
The final form of the final boss is probably the most annoying. If you have
a lot of extra credits sitting around, say, 2, then this won't be a problem
at all. Once the battle begins, get up close and personal and don't stop
until he starts getting some objects to circumambulate around him. Keep
hitting him as these thing circle around him until little purple beams
start coming out of the top. They'll explode, making us have to dodge while
enclosed in a circle. Simply move around side to side accordingly to dodge
these then go back to work on the main part of boss. The boss will begin
to fire out the little things that are circling him and this shouldn't be
much of a problem to get past. If you've kept the pressure on him up till
this point, he'll be dead shortly after this attack. Good job.
Now you get to see the ending. We saved the world! Who would've guessed.
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: : `. `. L1. Disclaimer |
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:___.'`.__.'/ This FAQ my only appear on the following sites:
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www.Gamefaqs.com
www.HonestGamers.com
If you see this guide on any other site, e-mail me about it.
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. This is property of Scott Clemmons and you may not
use it or steal it. Layer Section is owned by the developer and publisher and
I hold no rights to any of their work. I simply wrote this FAQ.
