Last Alert
v 1.4
2-28-99
author: Dimetric Houston
e-mail:
[email protected]
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Updates
Story
Controls
Screen Description
Subscreen
Class and Weapon Gains
Enemies
Weapons
PowerUps
Stage Strategies
Tips, Tricks and Secrets
Credits
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INTRODUCTION:
Hello all. This FAQ covers the game Last Alert for the Turbografx-16 CD
system.
It is a good old-school action game similar in nature to Bloody Wolf.
Being one of the early applications of the CD in video games, Last Alert has
voice and anime cutscenes.
I am not going to bother with the copyright stuff. If you are low enough
to try to bank a profit off of this, or you decide to plagiarize it, that's
your wretched morality.
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UPDATES:
v 0.5 1-25-99
-Preliminary edition.
-Some game info present
v 1.0 1-26-99
-strategies up to stage 20 present
v 1.1 1-27-99
-very minor corrections
v 1.2 2-8-99
-remaining stage strategies present
v 1.3 2-25-99
-formatting corrections
-added extra strategy for last boss
v 1.4 2-28-99
-changed Story description to prevent spoilers
-updated Class and Weapon Gains section
-added ascii maps for stages 2, 4, and 7
-added notices of missions where you can order of completion
-updated some boss strategies
-updated Weapons section (comments)
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STORY
You are Guy Kazama, super-soldier and one-man army sent to take down the
members of the terrorist group called the Force Project, who are bent on
taking over the world (and something more sinister you will come to
discover).
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CONTROLS
D-pad: Moves character. Also used to select weapons in subscreen.
Button 1: Fire special weapon
Button 2: fire primary weapon
Select: Pause
Run: Brings up subscreen for weapon selection
Additional moves:
Strafing: With the turbo buttons off, if you hold the fire button, you will
stay firing in one direction while being able to move about.
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SCREEN DESCRIPTION
A description of the items at the top of the screen follows.
Vital--This is your life meter. When it hits zero, you lose a life.
Exp--Experience points (current/required). As you kill enemies, you will
gain experience. When you gain the required amount, you go up a level
and class.
Class--Shows your current rank. As this goes up, you gain additional weapons.
Level--Shows level by medals.
Primary Weapon--this shows the primary weapon you are using. You get an
unlimited amount of ammo for these weapons.
Timer--when it hits zero, the game is over.
Secondary Weapon--This is the icon to the far right of the lower screen. It
shows what secondary weapon you are currently using and how many uses
of it you have.
NOTE: When you die, you can continue. You will start at the beginning of
the stage you were in when you died.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The game saves your progress after each anime cutscenes,
therefore if you want to stop prematurely, make sure you wait until
the next mission is about to start and you have been past any
cutscenes which appear, else you will start much further back than you
would have if you let the cutscene appear.
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SUB-SCREEN
You bring this up by hitting the RUN button.
At the far right are your special weapons. You select which one you will use
by pressing UP/DOWN.
Taking up the rest of the subscreen are your primary weapons. You select
which you will use by pressing LEFT/RIGHT.
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CLASS AND WEAPON GAINS
As mentioned earlier, as you gain levels you get better primary weapons.
Below I am listing what weapons you gain at what class.
Class Weapon gained
----- -------------
Ranger
Sharp Shooter
Sniper* Uzi Submachine Gun
Corporal
Special Forces
Captain
Major* M16 Armalite
Tank Buster
Colonel
Major General
Metal Soldier* Grenade Launcher
General
Marshal
Full Armor Guy
Heavy Warrior* M60 Heavy Machine Gun
Mad Thunder
Final Command
Oneman Army
Super Hero* Missile Launcher
* indicates a weapon gain
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MISSION TYPES
There are three types of missions you will accomplish over the course of
playing Last Alert. They are indicated by a colored dot which appears on the
map screen between missions. You must accomplish a different objective in
each type of mission.
I am describing the mission type by the dot color. This information is from
the manual.
Blue--when you reach the end of tthis type of stage, an enemy boss will
appear. You must defeat this boss to continue.
Yellow--you must satisfy certain conditions, then the boss will appear. An
example would be planting bombs in a designated place.
Red--a spy mission. You can still use weapons, but if you use anything other
than a pistol, more enemies will appear.
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ENEMIES
There is little variety in the enemies you will encounter in Last Alert.
Below are descriptions which cover all normal opposition.
Soldiers--basically what you always face in the game. They may come in
different colored garb, but there is very little difference
between them. Soldiers attack either with gunfire, grenades, or
rocket launchers.
Weapon soldiers--these launch boomerangs, axes, and fans at you.
Hovering soldiers--float in the air using jet packs. Move slowly and fire
single shots at you.
Robots--stationary machines that come in three colors: orange, white, and
green. The orange and green ones fire grenades, the white ones
fire regular bullets.
Bats--black and red creatures. You face them in only one stage, but that
stage is somewhat dark and they may be hard to see. They travel in
groups.
Rats--called rats by the strategy guide. They travel in the water. They
shoot at you too (never heard of rats with guns, which makes me
wonder if they are really rats).
Force Field Drones--these are moving bots that have an electric beam going
between them. Destroy one of them to break the connection.
Gun Drones--seen in the last stage. They come in two colors: blue and
brown/white. They only shoot single shots at you. The blue ones come
from the left side of the screen while the brown/white come from the
right.
Arms--robotic arms. Once they are even with you, they reach out to get you.
Bombs--boxes with numbers in them. The numbers tick down to 0. At 0 they
explode.
Spheres--large spheres that fire a large blast at you. They move up before
shooting.
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WEAPONS
Weapons are of two types. Primary and Secondary. Primary weapons have
unlimited use and are gained as you gain levels. Secondary weapons have
limited uses and are gained by getting their respective icons. The icons
are either visible on the ground are appear when you kill enemies.
Below are the weapon descriptions. Descriptions are from the manual,
comments are my own.
PRIMARY WEAPONS:
Colt M1911 A1--shoots three bullets in succession.
Comment: A pistol. You start with this weapon. Nothing much to say about
it except for the delay time after firing three successive shots. You
may be better off firing when you need to instead of holding the fire
button down.
Uzi Submachine Gun--shoots five bullets in succession.
Comment--fires more shots than the pistol with a little less delay between
volleys. Considering how bad the pistol is, this weapon is a nice
improvement.
Armalite M16 A1--fires in three directions at once and shoots three bullets
in succession.
Comment: The serious firepower starts here. Much, MUCH more versatile than
the pistol or the Uzi. The three-way fire really helps cover some
ground and grant you time and protection. The delay between
volleys is less than the Uzi. It also shoots faster than the
grenade laucher.
M203 Grenade Launcher--has the combined power of an Armalite and a grenade
launcher.
Comment: The Armalite with a missile in addition to the middle shot. This
weapon is really nice because the missile can go through barricades
and hit enemies hiding behind them. The missile is strong too, and
can put some quick hurt on bosses. You'll probably use this weapon
most.
Heavy Machine Gun--fires in five forward directions at once and shoots two
bullets in succession.
Comment: major area attack weapon. Has a tremendously wide range.
Excellent for covering area. However, be careful since there is
delay time after firing the two bullet volleys. Enemies could get
in too close for the weapon to help you if you get in a pinch
during the delay.
Missile Launcher--blasts four powerful missiles in succession.
Comment: Power describes this weapon totally. The attack area is good, but
nowhere near the M60's. However, this weapon's ability to go
through barricades and pack a super punch definitely makes for an
obstacle clearer.
SECONDARY WEAPONS
Hyper Pineapple--a highly destructive grenade.
Comment: Not much range (less than your gunfire), but does have a larger
attack area than your dot-sized bullets, so it can take out
multiple enemies. I don't recommend this weapon as it won't be
much help in a pinch.
Heavy Missile--launches a group of target-seeking missiles forward, backward,
left and right.
Comment: Best secondary weapon in the game! This is all you will need to
clear some space. The missiles shoot in four directions, home in
on foes, pack good power, and go through barricades. It doesn't
get any better than this weapon. Unfortunately, they don't home in
on a boss. Get this and don't worry about any other weapon except
for the Disc Launcher (and that's just to conserve this weapon)
Satellite--will attach itself to Guy's side for a certain period of time. It
is considered an invincibleweapon.
Comment: Somewhat ok weapon. When used, an orb appears on the both sides of
guy (thus there are two of them), and these orbs fire in the
direction you are facing. They always stay at Guy's horizontal
axis, meaning if you move left or right, they will be above and
below Guy. They also fire shots when you fire, but they fire very
slowly in comparison to guy--three shots from you is one shot from
them. They can absorb enemy fire. Not recommended.
Updated comment. I've found that the protection this weapon can offer makes
it a much better weapon than I thought. It will even stop grenades, plus the
extra area of firepower helps to cover area. Not a bad weapon after all.
Disc Launcher--fires disc in four diagonal directions with high penetration
and richochet power.
Comment: Second best secondary weapon. If enemies are in a corridor, hit
the button and watch the slaughter. In an open area, this weapon
will be more difficult to use with accuracy. At that point, you
just hope it bounces off of something and hits and enemy, or that
an enemy will be right in the discs path when launched. Use this
when you want to conserve the Heavy Missile.
Mega Flame Thrower--effective only for a limited amount of time.
Comment: Mega-flop is what this is. Don't bother. One merit is that when
you press the button, it continuously goes off for a limited time
(without using extra uses), so it can save you some finger
pressing. However, it doesn't have much range, and there won't be
many (or any) occasions where you can get close enough to use it.
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POWERUPS
Last Alert offers only one type of powerup to help our hero. Below is
its description.
Revitalizers--these restore your life meter. They come in two colors:
White--restores 3 life units
Orange--restores all life units
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STAGE STRATEGIES
This section will offer various strategies on each stage and the bosses of
each. I am listing the dot color that precedes each stage so you will know
what kind of mission it is.
The size of each stage doesn't really permit itself to a walkthrough, so most
of what I'll be offering is boss strategies. Some comments on the stages may
be present also.
STAGE 1 (blue)
--standard boss stage. Get the hang of strafing and all other controls.
This stage is no problem at all.
BOSS
he has a hostage with him, but it is no problem as you can't harm the hostage
anyway. Just get close to the boss and blast away. He shoots a short series
of shots, but will prove tremendously easy (like nearly every boss in this
game). If you have good reflexes and eyes, use the flamethrower while you
shoot him. Just be prepared to dodge the shots faster due to your close
proximity to the boss.
STAGE 2 (yellow)
--you need to set 8 bombs on this stage. The places where you need to set
the bombs are indicated with an X. Just run over the X and Guy will place
the bomb automatically. When you place all eight, "ESCAPE!" will appear on
the screen. The exit is to the upper left of the stage. Below is a map so
you can get an idea of where the bomb areas are located (not to scale).
| exit |
| ---------------------------------------
| plane plane door plane
| X X
plane plane jeeps
X X X
|---------| |
| | |
plane plane plane | | |
X X | | |
--------------------------------- X
O
O-- your character
X--places where you need to set a bomb
door--large green garage door (just there for decoration)
BOSS
a large 6-wheeled tank. You can not harm the tank. Your target is a man who
will pop out of a hatch on the tank. The tank moves back and forth, firing
missiles from its cannon. The man fires gun shots when he appears. One way
to get some good shots in is to get horizontal with the tank and fire across
to hit the man, then move around to the other side and repeat. Just watch
for the missiles and gunfire.
STAGE 3 (yellow)
--here you need to run down the runway to an escape plane. This stage
scrolls to the right. Enemy soldiers appear on vehicles and on foot. Stay
at the top of the screen and fire down to take out the vehicles. Many times
they leave items. Use the strafing ability to make this much easier. When
you get to the plane, a message saying "RIDE ON!" will appear and an arrow
showing where to board the plane appears as well. Get on the plane and the
mission ends.
STAGE 4 (blue)
--standard boss stage. Make use of the Heavy Missile here to get some space.
You will always be going up; there are no side tracks even though it appears
like it.
BOSS
two men with guns. There are also two normal soldiers that toss grenades.
Use the Heavy Missile to take out the regular foes, then use your normal
weapons to kill the bosses. They just move back and forth shooting normal
shots. Not hard at all. Use grenades to try to speed things up.
STAGE 5 (yellow)
--here you have to rescue 7 hostages. They are scattered all over this
place, so explore thoroughly. The exit to the boss is in the upper right.
Early in the stage you may come upon a bunch of barrels set up in a right
triangle type of formation. Next to them will be a snow patch, and next to
it is a warehouse. Travel down on the snow patch and then head right when
you reach the bottom of the screen. You will get many items. Keep going
right until you no longer can to get all the items. Below I have drawn a
map so you can get an idea of this stage's layout (not to scale).
--------------------------------------
X |
X | ---------
-----------------S ------ | exit |
| | | ------------------- | |
| | | | S | | |
| | | | X S | | |
| |j | ------------ | | j |
| | S| | j | | j |
| | | | | | |
| --- ------------ | j | | j |
| | S | | | | j |
| --- ----- | | | | j |
| | | X| | | X| | S |
| | | |X | S | | | | |
| | | ----- |------| S|-------| |
| | | |
| | | -------- -------| |---------------|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | -------- | | X |
| | | | S j j X | ------
| | | | j |
| ---------------- --- - ----------------|
| <---items---> |
|-------------------------------------------
|
|
O
O--your character
X--hostage
S--snowman (I guess even bad guys need to have fun in the snow sometimes ^_^)
j--jeep
The "items" are listed because this is a sort of secret area (not now since
I've shown them ^_^ )
BOSS
he shoots regular shots and tosses grenades. Not difficult. Use your
standard weapons and kill him.
STAGE 6 (blue?)
--standard boss stage. Nothing to say here.
BOSS
a big guy that shoots missiles. Also, you have to deal with crates that come
off the conveyor belt. Not a big challenge, but somewhat more taxing because
of the additional hazards. Use the Heavy Missile to get rid of the crates if
they are a problem. Use the strafe to keep the hurt on the boss The Disc
Launcher may help too.
STAGE 7 (red)
--your first spy mission. Use the pistol to keep the enemy count low. Of
course, more enemies means more experience, so it's up to you. There are
hostages to rescue here as well. Blow open the cells and get the hostages.
If you can't get to the boss, you didn't rescue all the hostages. Below is
a map of the area (not truely to scale).
-------------------------------- ----------
| | | |
| |-------------------------| | | boss |
| | | | -- ------
| | | ----| |
| | | |
| | |-----------
| | --- --- --- ------
| | | X | | | | X | | |
| -------------------------------- |
|----------------------------------| |
| |
| |
--- --- --- | |
| X | | X | | X | | |
-----------------------------| | |
| | | |
| |--| |
-------- --------- -----| |
| | X | | |-------------
| ----| --------- |
| | | |
| | |----------------------
O
O--your character
X--hostages
X does NOT (I repeat, DOES NOT) indicate how many hostages there are.
It only shows WHERE the hostages are located. You will find all the hostages
if you go to each X. There are usually two or three hostages at each X.
BOSS
a big fat guy here. He circles the screen firing three-way shots (like your
Armalite). There is a hostage in the middle of the screen. Whenever the
hostage is hit by you or the boss, he says "No!" I don't know if you can
kill the hostage, as I was able to kill the boss even though I hit the
hostage a few times. Use your weapons to take the boss out. If the boss if
horizontal/vertically even with you, use the Heavy Missile, else use grenades
to help things along.
You get to select which of the next three stages you wish to start on. I
started with the upper right mission.
STAGE 8 (blue--upper right)
--standard boss stage. Early on you will be going up the screen with a
railroad track in the middle. Mine carts with a single enemy soldier in them
come on this track. Stay to the side of the track and use the strafe while
you move to blow up the cart.
BOSS
now things get more hectic. The boss shoots a stream of shots at you. The
hard part is that enemy soldiers come out of the ground to get you too. But
there is a remedy. You got it--Heavy Missile. Use the missile to get rid of
the soldiers while you concentrate fire on the boss. He moves back and forth
while firing and it will take a little manuvering to get between the shots to
get to him.
STAGE 9 (blue--upper left)
--swamp stage here. At the fork, the right path seems quicker and less
crowded with enemies.
BOSS
he will duck into the water, then surface and fire a three-way shot at you,
then go back into the water to surface again in a different location. There
is not much indication of where he will surface, so keep a watchful eye so
you can move in time. This fight can take some time. Having the grenade
launcher helps here to put some quick hurt on the boss. Stay in the middle
of the screen so you can fire to any area quickly before the boss
re-submerges. Use the pod weapon to provide more firepower.
STAGE 10 (blue--lower left)
--tussle in a village. Nothing new here (other than the green garb the
soldiers wear ^_^ ). Oh, killing the pigs and chickens nets you items (bet
the animal rights people aren't too happy with this game). BTW, touching
the above animals hurts you, so blast them or avoid them.
BOSS
first you will have to contend with a bunch of soldiers coming out of the
helicopter. An really easy way to get through this is to get horizontally
even with the chopper (left or right side) and blast away with the grenade
launcher (you DO have it at this point, right?). You will kill all the
soldiers easily. Next, the boss himself will appear. He shoots normal
shots and tosses grenades. You know the drill by now. Grenade launcher
away.
STAGE 11 (red)
--second spy mission. This place has a similar (though not exact) layout to
the first spy mission, but with the additional hazard of moving spikes and
laser cannons. Going to the right should prove a little less hectic, and
you don't want hecticness here, as enemies come with missile launchers this
time.
BOSS
well, finally a boss with some variety. . .and so much ease as to make you
laugh. He uses a whip which sends out a way of energy--and that's it. Stay
at the bottom of the screen and strafe. You shouldn't suffer a hit at all.
Get the timing of his whip blast and don't get too impatient (unless your
time is running out). If you want protection, use the pod weapon and turn so
that a pod is between you and Kadat. The pod will block his whip blast. He
can block your shots with his whip also.
You get to choose which of the next three stages to start with. I started
with the lower right mission (red).
STAGE 12 (red--lower right)
--ok, NOW we have tad difficult mission. The enemies here are resistant to
pistol shots, which means that it will take more than one shot to kill them.
Because they come in packs, the screen gets filled pretty fast. Also, you
meet the first other-weapon foes here. These soldiers throw axes and
boomerangs (which don't return) at you. When the stage starts, about five
soldiers come at you. You can just run through them and take the damage or
try to kill them using more advanced weapons. Don't fire too much or the
later pack will prove deadly. Going left at the forks leads to exploding
soldiers that leave revitalizers.
Comment on the exploding soldiers. It will seem as if your shots don't
affect them. Just keep shooting and they'll eventually blow up. Don't be
close to them when they do.
When you get to a point with four path choices, the far left path is the
exit.
BOSS
big guy that shoots four missiles at you. Not a problem really. Strafing
will be your best bet here, although if you want to get horizontally even
with him, you may get more shots on him.
STAGE 13 (blue--upper right)
--the different hazard here are the green spikes what appear on the conveyor
belts. The belts move opposite to you, so they will slow you down. Get some
timing here to get past the spikes. Use the Heavy Missile to take care of
enemy soldiers. You need to get to the boss with a good amount of life
(although I hear more than four units is enough, the more the better).
BOSS
this can be difficult depending on your life. This boss hops back and forth
and fires homing missiles at you. The missiles move slow but can't be
destroyed, so you either can spend your time trying to avoid the
continuingly increasing number of them while trying to hit the boss, or just
take the hits and cream the guy. As much as it is against principles, the
latter is your best bet. Also, the flame thrower will finally be useful.
Get right next to the guy, turn the thrower on, and fire your regular weapon
as well. Double dose damage on him. Hopefully he'll die before you do.
STAGE 14 (blue--upper left)
--reasonably short stage here. Female fan-throwing enemies appear here, so
what can you guess about the boss? Make good use of the Heavy Missile here.
The force fields in the early part of the stage can be tedious. Just run
through them.
BOSS
this must be the easiest boss in the game. The boss will disappear, then
reappear in another location (indicated by a small burst of energy) and take
one shot at you, then repeat. No trouble at all. Stay in the screen center
and smash the boss with your weapons.
STAGE 15 (blue)
--corridors connected by stairs make up this stage. You shouldn't have much
trouble here.
BOSS
now this is different. The boss fires a three-way weapon in which the middle
shot continues off the screen, but the outer two shots travel a ways, then
stop and come at you. What you want to do is strafe vertically. Keep firing
up. Stay near the screen bottom. When the boss fires, move up alongside the
middle shot. The outer shots should move behind you. Go back down and
repeat the pattern. The boss fires quickly, so things get hectic, and you
surely will take some hits, but as long as you keep the pounding on, the boss
should go down before you do.
STAGE 16 (blue)
--ocean cruise bash! If you have the M60, blast away, else the grenade
launcher or M16 will do the job here. Shoot the meat on the floor to get
some items.
BOSS
simple fellow. He just shoots pistol shots. Blast him. No problem at all.
STAGE 17 (blue)
--No question. THIS is a difficult mission. The grenade launcher may be
your best best due to all the barricades. You can switch out with the M60 if
you think there is space enough to make it effective. Lots of
grenade-throwing and missile launching enemies here. The laser cannons can't
be destroyed, so keep moving when you see them.
BOSS
ah, more boss variety. Such a commodity, isn't it? The boss has three orbs
rotating around him. The orbs will block your shots. The boss moves back
and forth across the screen. When he stops, the orbs come at you. The boss
also fires a single shot at you. Get horizontal with him and grenade
launcher away. Use the strafe to keep firing at him and avoid the
satellites. If you still can't avoid them, forget the strafe and do the
standard move procedure.
STAGE 18 (blue)
--lots of enemy soldiers. Gun turrents make an appearance also. Use the
grenade launcher for barricades, the M60 for open areas and the turrents.
BOSS
This starts to look intimidating but is quite easy. Here we have a big guy
with two three-way guns plus five turrents. Use the Disc Launcher and take
out the turrents, then grenade launcher the boss. You can't get horizontal
with this one, so strafing will be your forte here.
At this point you can choose the order of the next three stages. I started
with the lower right one.l
STAGE 19 (blue--lower right)
--the robots make their appearance here. Time is short on this stage, so run
through it. Grab the orange revitalizer near the end though.
BOSS
the blue sphere is your target, so concentrate your fire here. The outer
installations will fire at you, plus turrents appear on the conveyor belt.
Strafe to keep the pressure on.
STAGE 20 (blue--upper left)
--again, short time, and there is a conveyor belt section that will really
slow you down (time-wise). Don't waste time here. The crates hold items,
but taking time to get them won't leave much time for the rest of the stage
and the boss. Try to get a few, but only a few.
BOSS:
Here we have three guys. They shoot pistol shots in groups of threes. The
screen fills pretty quickly with their gunfire. The method I used here was
to select the missile launcher and concentrate on one of them at a time. As
I remember, they only move along the wall they are on. I hear that the M60
is actually best for this boss. The strafe may help, but not much.
STAGE 21 (blue--upper right)
--sewer stage here. M60 all the way! Enemies here consist of bats,
soldiers, and rats. Soldiers on the walls can be taken care of the grenade
launcher, but you would be better off ignoring them, as your time won't allow
for it. The brown boxes have items, but again, the time won't allow for much
item getting. There is a white revitalizer near the end of the stage, so you
can destroy the crate to get it if you need the life.
BOSS:
The bosses are getting harder now. This serpent will fire three energy rings
at you, then sink into the water and chase after you. The hard part about
this boss is that when it resurfaces, it appears in a different spot. The
M60 is the weapon of choice here for sure. When the serpent goes into the
water, you can not harm it (although you can shoot it). It can only be
harmed when its head is showing. It moves slowly when it goes underwater,
so you don't have to worry about being caught by it.
A strategy here is to get to one side of the screen as far away as possible
from the serpent. It will sink into the water and come toward you. If you
are far enough away, by the time it gets close, it will resurface somewhere
away from you. Fire away and get some positioning to get some hits and to
get further away from it. If it surfaces close to you, it may be best to
just run away instead of trying to turn and fire.
STAGE 22 (blue)
--time to go after the mad doctor. Enemies here consist of soldiers and
force field bots. The soldiers are the biggest threat simply because there
are so many. The force field bots take quite a pounding, and will keep you
in place for quite a time--which is long enough for a pack of soldiers to
come and give you a headache. Most of the time the soldiers approach from
behind, so you'll run into them if you vertically strafe trying to take care
of the bots. The M60 may be best here. Make sure to get the orange
revitalizer from killing the orange bot at the left side near the end of the
stage.
BOSS:
Garcia is protected behind a glass and has 4 gun emplacements which fire at
you. The emplacements shoot 3-way shots. The M60, grenade launcher, or
missile launcher is good here. I would suggest the M60. After destroying
the guns, blast the glass. You can switch to the Missile Launcher to do
this. After a while, it will crack. Keep shooting to break it completely.
Garcia will run away and you give chase.
Aside: Wasn't it convenient that there were TWO shuttles? Garcia takes one
and you get the other. Now what could have prompted the mad doctor to make
two shuttles instead of one?
STAGE 23 (blue)
--Garcia has run off to Indra, the mass weapon of destruction. This stage is
very short and a breather from the hard stages before. Enemies here are the
white, green, and force field bots. There are no other enemies at all
besides the boss. The force field bots are much easier to destroy in this
mission. Use the M60 and clean up. Make sure to get the orange revitalizer
after destroying one of the white bots.
There are two consecutive bosses for this stage.
BOSS 1:
First is Garcia in his flying chair. Garcia circles the screen clockwise
rapidly and does two attacks. He fires and 8-way shot frequently in one
attack. Less frequently he fires a large blast at you. He fires the large
blast about every 3-4 eight-way shots. Another indication of the coming
large shot is that he will stop firing the 8-way shots for a few seconds.
I used the Missile Launcher and it became a pattern of shooting up and down
while avoiding the shots.
After blowing up the chair, Garcia becomes a robot and thus your second boss
fight starts.
BOSS 2:
Garica fights similar to the Stage 14 boss. However, he poses a much larger
threat than that boss. Garcia fires homing missiles at you and also
occasionally fires a large blast as well. Your time will probably be pretty
low by this point, so you have to pack the damage on quickly. The worst
problem here is that the homing missiles can't be destroyed and they will hit
more than once. They hit you and then circle around again to hit again.
I offer two strategies for facing Garcia:
STRATEGY 1: Use the Missile Launcher. If your life can handle it, you can
fight Garcia in much the same way that you fought the Stage 13 boss. Get
close to him when he appears and fire away. Use the strafe start backing
away from him while continuing to fire at him. You want distance so that
you can see the blast coming in time to dodge it. He does some movement
before firing the blast, so look for it and be prepared to dodge. You will
get hit two or more times by the missiles. This is not your worry. Just
dodge the blast so that he doesn't take more life from you.
STRATEGY 2: Use the M60. You may wish to use rapid fire too. I still
suggest the strafe. However, with the area attack of the M60, you can
spend more time dodging the missiles while still being relatively secure that
you are still hurting Garcia. If you are hit by the missiles, don't move
unless the large blast is coming your way. Not moving lets the missiles hit
you less times.
With his death Garcia tells you something disturbing. The last part of this
stage now begins.
STAGE 23 (continued)
--you will begin in the same area you killed Garcia. Garcia's dead body is
in the corner. Shoot it and destroy it to get an item. You will get on an
elevator that will serve as your platform for the remainder of the game.
The elevator moves up constantly. Your enemies consist of the blue and
brown/white drones, bombs, spheres, and the robotic arms. If you stay
to the right side of the platform, the brown/white drones won't be able to
hit you. Stay all the way to the left side and the blue drones won't be able
to hit you. Watch for the bombs and arms, as they will mess up your moving
to the sides safely.
The weapon of choice is the M60. I used the Missile Launcher first and got
creamed by the time I got to the boss. The M60 is unbelievably useful here
and can take out all opponents (with the exception of the spheres) in a few
shots.
When you see the spheres, use the Missile Launcher to lay the smack down
quickly.
The bombs are hard to notice with all the other action going on. I am
showing how they will appear below:
X X
X
X X X
X X X
O -- your character
X X
X X
O
You will be moving up. The bombs will be on the walls with the numbers
ticking away in them. Keep an eye out so you aren't near them when they
explode.
The spheres appear after the last bomb group. There are two of them.
The second one has an orange revitalizer.
The arms reach out to just short of the center of the platform. If you get
surrounded stand exactly in the middle to avoid being hit.
At the very end, you will face Indra.
BOSS:
The strategy guide I used explains this part perfectly, so I'll quote it
directly:
"Indra consists of four rotating guns that shoot a three-way shot and two
green "eyes" that launch missiles. For this first section, use the missile
launcher to destroy all of the above. Try to stay either to the right or
left of center, so only the missiles will hit you."
Ok, back to me. This is a pretty effective strategy. Stay on one side until
you destroy the "eye" on that side, then go to the other side and do the
same. Once the eyes are gone, destroying the guns is easier. Just be
watchful as you won't have much time to see where the shots will go. The M60
is the answer here. Stay in a corner to wipe out the arm that comes from
that side. Dodging the three and four-way shots is not difficult, but it's
all a setup so that you get hit by the big blast.
If you can avoid that blast, great. If not, don't worry much as long as you
can get rid of the arms. Indra will be hitting you only with the large blast
if you get the arms out of the way, as the shots are not hard to dodge.
The Satellite weapon is also useful here, as it can block the large blast
Indra sends your way. When you suspect the large blast is coming or want to
block the smaller shots, just hold the direction pad diagonally up-left or
up-right (depending on which corner you are in) and one of the pods will be
at an angle that will block the shots.
Destroy Indra and you win! Sit back, take a well-deserved breather, and
watch the credits. Seems one of the voice actors really got some work.
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TIPS, TRICKS, AND SECRETS
Note: 1 and 2 are Buttons 1 and 2 respectively.
Debug trick--you can find this at GameSages (sages.ign.com)
Start with one of each special weapons--find this trick at GameSages
(sages.ign.com)
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CREDITS
God--for the strength, life, and intellect to do this FAQ
GameSages--the Debug and Weapons tricks
TurboPlay--their walkthrough was a great help in getting through this long
game.
I hope you have enjoyed this FAQ. If there are any corrections, additions,
etc. that you see that need to be put here, please e-mail me and let me know.
Thanks for reading.
[email protected]
Dimetric Houston
The End
