BANGAI-O LEVEL FAQ [2002-08-05] Kirk Israel --INTRO-- Bangai-O! What a great game! The level exploration and enemy generators of Gauntlet combined with the action of Smash TV, all in a veneer of Metroid with a touch of the control of Joust...sounds like a mess but it's brilliant. A 2D game where level design really really matters, that throws hoards and hoards of enemies at you and gives you the hardware you need to take it all on...plus, a huge heap of Japanese weirdness. Looks like a big favorite of CJayC's as well...I hope that this FAQ, the first to cover *all* 44 levels, will come in useful to people who would others struggle with this game. --GENERAL HINTS-- * Everyone, including the manual, agrees: ABXY is the only control scheme worth using. You're going to need the full control of firing in any direction while moving in any other direction. Don't know why it's not the default, or why they bother with the other option at all. * Scatterbombing technique (with the right trigger) is what separates the men from the boys in this game. The 44 levels are going to be a true grind unless you learn to use the scatterbomb for both offense and defense. You can spend 2 minutes laboriously picking off bots and their generators from behind cover, or you can run in, charge 'er up, and let it fly in about 10 seconds. * The key to good scattershotting is waiting for the right moment. My first time through, I would scattershot as soon as I thought to do it. Eventually I learned that he who hesitates is launched... if you press and hold R until a big flock of bullets is just about to hit you, you'll do a lot more damage, and go a lot further towards recharging the scatterbomb energy. It's worth taking some risks for, even taking a bullet, since there's a good chance you can generate a health to make up for it. (Multiple explosions bring better fruit as well as health) * You've got to learn when it's worth clearing out a region, and when you should just zoom on by. You can loose a lot of health one hit at a time, especially when the enemies aren't quite clustered enough to make good use of your scatterbombs...it's easy to run out of scatterbombs, and that means you're in a much worse off defensive position. * If you're firing to the left and an enemy comes sneaking up to the right, that might be a good time to scatterbomb. * Listen to the sound effects! In particular: -the beeping when you're out of scatterbombs, and the little whistle when you earn a new one (took me a while to figure out what that sound was.) -if you do a good scatterbomb and you hear a distinct metallic clang, start looking for the Energy powerup you just earned yourself. -if your character cries out like you got hit, that might be a good time to scatterbomb, since more bullets are probably on their way. -the music shift when your V-powerup energy ends is sometimes the most obvious clue that your invulnerability has worn off * 3 hamsters in the initials screens will open up a second options menu, (back up out of the game once it starts) to go turn on things like invulnerability. My history was, I used this cheat for the final 5 levels my first time through...but then I was able to take it all on, by leaning how to scatterbomb, and realizing I didn't have to clear out every region. * Random trivia: the "I must be dreaming" reincarnation screen was even stranger in the Japanese version of this game. Do a Google search for Bangai-O screenshots. Suffice it to say, I think what looks like KKK garb to an American doesn't have the same cultural ramifications in Japan...at least I hope not. --THE LEVELS-- 1. THE PLANET DAN STAR Appropriately enough, the first level is a bit of a cakewalk. Wide open spaces, not many bad guys. In fact, the only generators generate health powerups...as you get to the harder levels, you'll be hard pressed to find generators that make anything except bad guys out for blood. Take your time, blow up some buildings, pick up some fruit, take out the robots that harass you. When you've had enough of that, head to the door on the right side of the screen, about halfway up. You'll fight Sabu. Like the rest of the level, he should be a piece of cake. Since it's a big wide open area, stick with the homing missiles. HINT: You might want to start experimenting with the right trigger smart bomb attack. Try holding off firing that until you're just about to be hit. If you time it right, you'll launch many more weapons. In fact, one really big scatterbomb attack is all you need to take this guy out! If you do start to get damaged, near the top of where you fight him there is a generator producing yellow (full) health powerups. 2. CYBER COMMAND CENTER Here's where you need to learn Mami's weapon. The only safe way of clearing out the lasergates in the narrow corridors is to use her ricochet laser, aiming diagonally up or down in the direction you want to go. If you're in a hurry, you can even try her scatterbomb...especially useful in the second set of corridors where you're heading down. HINT: if you're running low on scatterbombs, fire into the blue/yellow lasers before taking out the gun itself. You can recharge up to a full 5 before moving on. In a pinch with no lasers or enemies, sometimes you can spend some time destroying houses before moving to the next section. The path to the boss is straightforward, and he's not much tougher than he was last time. If you've been using ricochet lasers you might want to switch back to the homing missiles. 3. MOON BASE ALPHA This level introduces the concept of enemy generators. Most are the "weak" variety that can be taken out without too many hits. Other than that, there's not too much to this level. Sabu is again waiting for you on the right. He's a little tougher than before, but if you use an offensive/defensive stream of homing missiles and the occasional scatterbomb he should present little real challenge. 4. THE SPACE CEMETARY A new type of level design. Mami's ricochet laser might be the best bet for these narrow corridors. You might want to practice blasting your scatterbomb into a group of crates, letting you get the more valuable Apples rather than typical Oranges...but be careful not to drain your scatterbomb reserve too much, since you might need it for defense later on. You might notice that right before the boss room there's a path (blocked by some of those small blocks) that can take you to the tree-lined path that surrounds the main areas. You can take this if you want, but as far as I can tell there's no compelling reason to. The battle with Sabu...well, it's getting a little tougher, and there are some extra enemies in that final room. (Along with some health). You might want to take out the missile launchers before "activating" Sabu, and possibly the houses as well, since they might attract your homing missiles. HINT: When many bosses are going to launch their own scattershot, you'll see a shockwave fly out proceeding the actual missiles. That might be a good time to start charging your own scatterbomb, waiting until the wall of bullets gets close (but not *too* close) before launching your devastating counterattack. When all else fails, run (possibly using the doubletap dash) firing behind you to shoot down any homing missiles on your trail. 5. MILKY WAY STATION "Oh man, life is bitter!" The first room is one your first good non-boss battles. Use your scatterbomb to good effect. Notice that it often won't take out the generators, so you'll have to give them some special attention. The second room is much like the first. Then you meet your first core boss...a green ball that just sits there and takes it. In enclosed areas, Mami's scatterbomb can work wonders at speeding the process along, and often doing one shot will be enough to power up the next. Good deal! 6. BASE UNDER CONSTRUCTION So here at the infostation you learn about red and blue doors. There are little loops on the right side, top and bottom, to give you the idea of the red doors (I don't think you can get trapped.) The blue doors are opened by destroying the generator sitting on them. In the bossroom, you'll probably want to clear out the missile launchers before activating the boss...also the houses, since they can easily distract your homing missiles from their main mission, that being kicking boss butt. This is a new type of vehicle boss. Shouldn't be too challenging, since it and its weapons are so slow. 7. MOON BASE BETA Here you get introduced to blue and green crystal barriers. Blue barriers block the ricochet laser...I guess the designers wanted to be able to create situations where Mami can't just fire a ton of shots to clear the path. Green barriers stop all of Bangai-O's weapons. Both barrier types are invisible to enemy shots (though the enemies themselves can't pass through them) so you have to be careful. HINT: If you're in a thin corridor with a lot of green (or blue) blocks that are letting enemy bullets through, you might want to use a ricochet scatterbomb in a defensive kind of way, creating a small path for you to get the heck out of there. This is one of the first difficult levels you have to pick your way through. Because of all the blue barriers, you'll probably want to stick through homing missiles for most of it. Move conservatively, clearing one little room at a time, and looking for opportunities to take out missile launchers that are on the other side of the blue crystals. There are some blue health cubes lurking near the mid bottom right of the first area, behind what looks like chainlink fence. Make your way to the right side of the first area. There you'll see the next space, blocked off by some big bombs (they're big, but not that explosive.) Fire missiles through the top or bottom to set off the bombs. There's a full health powerup on the bottom...you may well need it by this point. There's a big green wall to the right...the only way to get past is to blow up bombs that are falling from the generator above, so don't be too quick to destroy it. Despite what the boss says, killing it will indeed help you reach your target. His health regenerates, but still he should be trivial to finish off, especially with some laser scatterbomb in that narrow little space. 8. THE HOLLOW ASTEROID So here you further the technique of shooting orange bombs to remove otherwise unbreakable blocks. Proceed carefully section by section. This is probably my favorite boss conversation...so odd! As always, you may want to clear out the boss area before talking to her. Also, there's a pile of blue healths to the right. Her laser beams can really do damage if you're not careful! On the other hand, they can make it pretty easy to launch 400-MAX scatterbombs, and a few of those missile deathblossoms will lead to her timely demise. 9. THE EXPLOSION STORE There are two ways to handle this level. You can go through and systematically search-and-destroy. I think that's a good way to get killed. You can just dash to the boss as well...you'll activate a few robots, but this boss is a bit of a push over for your missiles and scatterbombs. I don't know what the infostation lady means by "green boxes". Could she be talking about the (yellow box) "V" invulnerability powerups? (I think of them as "Vornados", I think that's a brand of fan...seems appropriate given the power and circular form of this weapon!) Oh, I guess the actual powerup is green...still, I'm usually looking for the boxes. Anyway, there's a Vornado powerup at the top right, but you don't need it, unless you're going for a highschore. 10. THE BOMB MAZE Use the laser to clear out the bombs from a distance...especially from the innocent looking yellow ones, which go up with a really big bang that can do you a lot of damage. Here you'll meet up with a big blue wobbly disk for the first time. They aren't too too dangerous...pump them up with weaponfire and they'll explode in a slow shower of straightmoving bullets. They can be useful to powerup your scatterbombs... the bullets they send out also seem to damage other enemies, but it's not that useful as an offensive weapon. As the level proceeds, definitely keep an eye out for those yellow bombs, they have a great big range. The further you are when they go off, the better. Also, learn to use the scatterbomb laser in that defensive/offensive combo as you clear out robot generators. 11. DESERT OUTPOST The laser is a good weapon here, though there are some blue crystal cages, so you want to have the homing missiles handy. As you go through the level, you may run into your first flamethrower. They're kind of interesting, not too hard to destroy usually, but they can do a lot of damage. HINT: I think the flame must count as a TON of little bullets, because some of my biggest most-fruit-producing explosions have been in the wake of an exploding rotating flame thrower. Be a little careful with your scatterbombs, it's easy to run out. Also in this area you'll run into a favorite trick of this game, unbreakable bricks balanced on bombs. And you may also find out that it is perfectly possible to be trapped by these blocks, forcing you to restart the level. Luckily there's not too much of that There is a trick to this section, and if you do it wrong you may have to start over....before going all the way to the bottom left corridor, make sure all the bombs in the center sections have been destroyed. If you make that BIG bunch of unbreakable bombs fall (the one with the two blue health boxes on top) before being able to destroy the wall to its left, (the wall to the right of that blue crystal cage) you're stuck. Of course, the area you need to clear out before heading to the bottom left is very well fortified with lots of missile launchers. Eventually, after going through the levels of maze on the left, you should be able to go through the top right. Here you'll clear out many bomblines in a row with your homing missile as the trigger. There's a lot of enemy firepower here, so be careful. 12. THE GUN STAR I don't have a lot to say about this level...in fact I don't even get the Gun Star reference (though I know gunstar heroes was a previous Treasure game, and I have played it a little bit.) Again, you can try to take out everything, or just go ahead to the top right corner, down the right side, to where the boss awaits. (You might want to clear out that area a bit though.) There's a full health powerup above. One trick is that there's a ledge where the full health appeared... it's pretty easy to get the boss stuck on the opposite side, and then scatterbomb your way to victory with the missiles. 13. RACING THE FUSES Ooh, this one is pretty ugly, especially if you haven't got the knack of double tapping to speed, and busting through hoards of enemies without getting yourself killed. You have to beat some bomblines or you'll get stuck. Navigating the upper passage is really a matter of mastering move-and-fire. Ignore everything, use the laser scatterbomb when enemy bullets threaten. You'll notice the floor of the passage has some bomblines to set off. The only ones that are really important are the ones that are "more exposed"... they bombs climb up the left side of the various chambers. Make sure you get these or else you'll be stuck on the trip to the left in the bottom hallway. Once you've made it past the red door on the right you'll be in the bottom passage...be very careful with the bombline on the floor! You want to clear the path to the left before setting it off, since otherwise you might not beat it back to the left side of screen. (So be careful with the ricocheting lasers!) Don't go through the second red door yet, but you may want to try to fire into that chamber. Then go back to the bottom right, start the bombline, and speed back to the left. Don't get caught up in the fighting here! You'll pass through several falling block walls, and you'll have to destroy the enemies sitting on the blue doors before they'll open. You're finally back to near where you started...wait for the bombs to clear the passage, then scoot through before the unbreakable blocks seal you from the boss. 14. THE NEBULA FORTRESS Be careful of the flamethowers right beneath where you start out. Again, there are two ways to handle this level: slowly advance, clearing out section by slow section, or zip all the way around the central section, back up the middle where the boss is. If you stay in that central corridor (where the flamethrowers were at the outset) and fire down, you should be able to take out this bozo without too much hassle. Make wise use of scatterbomb, waiting til it's about to hit you before letting fly with the laser beam...it's pretty easy to get some 400-MAX (with energy ups to boot!) 15. LUNAR ECLIPSE This level is pretty easy, because the vehicle boss is so slow. The wobblies can make for some pretty explosions, so you might not want to fire too much unless you see your target, but this level shouldn't be much of a challenge. 16 THINK FIRST, SHOOT LATER Despite the ominous warning of the title, there are fewer ways of getting trapped on this board than on many of the others. A typical corridor crawl. HINT: From hard-won experience, I can say that the safest thing to do when caught under falling multiple columns of unbreakable blocks is to fly as high as you can...that way, most of the neighboring columns will fall, while the one you're under will stay up, allowing you to slip off to the side. 17. PERIMETER LASERS If you've mastered the laser scatterbomb, neither of the sides should present much of a problem. Pick a side, fight your way down, enter the center laser hallway, and take out all the lasers from behind, making sure you hit all of the laser emplacements. (If you find yourself in the middle and see you've missed one but don't want to fly all the way around, a laser scatterbomb might clear out the straggler.) Then do the same on the other side. Go back to the top, down the middle, laser scatterbomb the emplacements in the middle, and call it day. 18. THE LASER DROME Heh. This board reminds me of Crocodile Dundee "He's got a knife!" "That's not a knife...*this* is a knife" Thank of that, but substitute "array of deadly laserbeams" for "knife". There's a yellow full health on the lower right side of the screen, near where the boss is. The Ultraman looking guy is pretty easy. I've gotten him stuck in corners before, where I could fire endless missiles into him and he just stood there and took it. Actually, even a steady stream of lasers will prevent him from mounting an effective attack...so just catch him in that starting corridor, fire away...his shots will travel safely above and below you, and the occasional fleet of miniships will launch away from you and not have room to turn and get you. 19. NON-STOP DESTRUCTION Heh. Now this is an interesting level. Once you shoot your way out of your starting circle, grab the Vornado power up. Now you have two options. Clear everything out, or head straight for the boss. I'd do the latter. He's right below you. You are very indestructible with your shield going. So make sure to fully clear out the path of gun emplacements and bots on your way down, since you don't want them interfering during the boss fight. (Oh, and by the way... the enemy is invulnerable whenever you are, so don't get any funny ideas.) This guy (who is a bit similar to the final boss you'll face) has two attacks. His regular laser beam is pretty powerful, but as long as it's not quite hitting you, it's an easy way to get massive scatterbomb upgrades-- in the 300s easy. I had much better luck with the laser than the homing missiles when it came to launch scatterbomb after scatterbomb...also to help drill a bit more maneuvering room. The trick is he often likes to launch two waves of seeking missiles in a row... you need to make sure you're not close enough to him (and you have enough spare scatterbombs) to launch a second counterstrike if need be. Another trick is to stick and move...fire, and then get your distance! 20. BURNING HEAVEN In the first section, there's something you *must* do unless you're a serious masochist...go to the top of the first main chamber, and take out the two fire-in-all-direction pods that are right above you. They're hiding behind green crystal, and will be the death of you when you try to finish the level, unless you kill them now, from their unprotected underbellies. Now, you have a decision: left or right? Left has a lot more bots. Right has more corridors, with gun emplacements and some falling bricks. (If you go for the bots, be sure not to run out of scatter bombs!) You know, I used to assume the right was easier, but as long as you fly fast through rather than destroy every dang bot, the left passage is pretty straightforward. (Or maybe I've just gotten a lot better at using scatterbombs) There are some bomb walls hiding health powerups you can get, if you clear them out through the blue crystal up above. 21. THE CAGE Small bunch of bots behind the green crystal. Can't attack 'em, just have to avoid them (use your laser scatterbomb for defense if need be.) You need to clear out the generators, blue wall, and bombline on the right, and then on the left. There are blue health powerups in the lower right and left corners You probably want to take the time to kill all the gun emplacements you can, since you're going to have to do a lot of dodging and ducking for this boss fight. (and some of those gun emplacements are actually gun generators...) Actually, I spoke to soon...there is a way to break the cage! There's a bomb generator on the upper left side. You'll probably need to take out the gun generator there, so the bombs can drop all the way to the bottom of the cage. Once they do, blow up the bomb, and then you should be able to take out those pesky bots. From there, the boss shouldn't be a big deal. Play cat and mouse with it, maybe try letting it slowly chase you around the flat obstacle near the top of the screen, using scatterbombs to kill it from behind, when you get a clear shot. 22. THE ROBOT FACTORY Mr. Robot and his Robot factory--that was a good game, back in the day, and had a construction set...but I digress. Anyway, this is a fairly straight forward destroy everything that moves. I'm not sure what finally opens the blue door... you don't quite have to destroy everything, but it stays shut for a good long while. Be careful not to run out of scatterbombs... You're halfway done! Admittedly, the easier half, but still! 23. IT'S RAINING ROBOTS! Heh. This is a really amusing level. Makes me think this game could really use a construction set. You're best bet is to just move up the middle of the droppers, and let loose with scatterbomb after scatterbomb. Don't worry about getting every last badguy, just most. Before you do that you may want to clear out the houses on the border of the main arena...otherwise they may attract homing missiles when you least expect it. When you're clearing out the rows be sure to pick up energies as they appear. Homing missiles are probably the best bet for the boss. 24. THE ROBOT MAZE Be careful. Make sure you save scatterbombs for defense, otherwise you might find yourself facing more enemy shots that you can handle, coming at you in a row. Try to shoot robot around corners with the laser, rather than facing a big row head on, simply because they might be able to overwhelm your normal gun. Watch out for the blue crystal walls on the right, use your missiles. For the green crystal room on the left, try to see how much of it you can take out with the laser. 25. SHADOW BATTLE A lot of people think this one is tough, but I don't think it's so bad. I'd avoid taking on the huge armadas on the walls, and just fly straight up to meet your evil twin. (this level is huuuuuge, so if you're careful you should be able to avoid the walls...and even if a few bots get activated, it's no big deal. The trick with this guy is to KEEP MOVING. Never let him near you. Use double tap dash to stay the heck away, and fire behind you to catch the stray bullets. Use missiles and scatterbomb as appropriate. The thing is, given his ability to produce two waves of his bomb (just like the guy on board 19) and the way you stop for a moment when you release your scatterbomb, it's better to use speed and the vast amount of space you have to outrun the seekers until they disappear on their own. 26. THE VICE This is a cakewalk. The falling objects really don't change this from being a typical one on one duel. His big weapon is non-homing, non-reflecting scatterbomb. It's really easy to wait for the wave to almost hit you, and then launch a monster 400 scatterbomb to take him out. I have had the boss get stuck under a block, making the level unfinishable... 27. THE MAZE OF MANY DANGERS You can take many different paths on this one. I like heading over across the top, grab the V powerup, kick some tail, and head to the boss in the lower right corner. You can take out all his guard gun emplacements with carefully cornered laser shots. Sometimes you have to be clever and not kill gun emplacements until they destroy things that you can't thanks to green crystal. Watch out for falling unbreakable blocks 28. GALACTIC DUEL This level can be tricky or easy. The easy way: gun straight down to the floor on the far right side. Shoot each layer of floor taking out the houses sitting on it. (Use homing missiles, too much ricochet will take its toll on the round bricks that make up the ceiling of this passage way) Walk all the way to the left, killing everything. Kill generators in the central section from below by blowing through those round bricks. Do the same thing, but this time above the main corridor, again starting from the right. You want to keep things smooth and orderly, walking on the bricks instead of flying for the most part, avoiding having to use your scatterbomb which may let even more enemy bots in to play. Make sure to kill the generators and emplacements in the central corridor. The fight with the boss should be nothing special. His weapon is only so-so. But what are those noises he's making? Forbidden love indeed! 29. ROBOT HUNT Despite what the subtitle might have you think, you don't have to kill every robot out there. Just enough to open the blue doors. Once they're open, destroy the bomblines on all four sides of the central structure, and finally go back to the top and enter. Again, my third time through the whole game, I had a really easy time with this level. I just kind of zip on through, playing just enough scatterbomb defense to get by... 30. FRUIT SALE Another exercise in using your right trigger! Remember to wait til you're surrounded by bullets, and then...whammo! (You might have to hang around the gun emplacements, the bots will probably not be firing enough to get the full deathblossoms) There's no good reason not to destroy everything the place. Then, check all 4 walls to make sure all the bombsets are destroyed. Enter the passage at the bottom right, go all the way around, and take out the boss. Is it just me, or am I seeing tunafish spinning away in the debris on this level? 31. RUN THE GAUNTLET It took me a long time to decide if I could get away with really running the gauntlet, or if I needed to clear it out room by room. In the final analysis, I decided a dash was a lot more fun. Even though the walls are blue crystals sometimes, I tend to stick with the laser, since I'm more worried about what's in my immediate path than the bots taking potshots at me from outside. There are two detours I suggest making...one is with the second set of laser gates, the ones in a vertical tower. You should duck over to the right side and take these out from behind...don't stick around too long, because robots will be taking potshots from behind, but long enough to grab the two blue health at the top. Make your way up and to the right. Be careful not to get trapped in the blockpile that falls. Here's the clever bit...shot through the green bricks at the top left of the path. Go to the left and down...there's a V powerup here! Grab it, and then get back on the main course to make a mad dash to the boss before your vornado power runs out. Stop right after you get through the red door, and use your missiles to take out all the gun emplacements generators and misc. bots surrounding the boss' room. This is very important. You might also want to get rid of the giant blue wobblies so they don't get in your way. The boss is easy, just stay out of his slow way and use the missiles. 32. BURIED ALIVE This level can be a challenge...in particular, it's very easy to get stuck under a blockpile. My hardwon strategy is to always fly up as much you can, letting the columns of blocks to either side of you fall, and then move from side to side as appropriate, always trying to move to higher ground. Once you burst your way to the top, the boss shouldn't be too tough. I'd suggest use your homing missiles, and once a fighting area is cleared out, stay near the ceiling, since otherwise your homing missiles may all be sucked into the huge piles of blocks that still remain. 33. FAMILY DUEL "Just roll with it" suggests the subtitle, and that's pretty good advice. This guy looks straight out of Smash TV, come to think of it, which is fitting given the rest of the dynamic of this game! So this guy is invulnerable with his shield up. He'll bounce around a bit. Assuming you're using homing missiles, you'll want to clear a space to play in, and stay away from the edges less they attract your missiles away from their intended target. Fly around, predict when he's gonna slowdown and drop his shields to fire at you, scatterbomb just before than, and you should be fine. Actually, it's easy to get huge scatterbombs against his shield, which can produce health powerups if you need it. 34. DANGEROUS DESCENT This one is kind of fun. Dive into it! I wouldn't try to play search and destroy. Occasionally, destructible metal beams will block your path and slow you down. Be careful, though, because you can die in a big hurry. Once you get to the part with the flamethrowers, you need to start fighting for real. After that little room, take either side down to the next door (destroying bomblines as needed) until you get to that last big room...bots galore! A few more rooms of this (stopping to grab the full health powerup), a few dozen powered up laser scatterbombs, and you're ready to show this weatherlady what time it is. 35. CHAMBER OF HORRORS This level can be really easy. There's a lot of it you can ignore on the quickest way to the boss. Go all the way to the right, then straight up through a few chambers (including one with a lot of blue and green crystal walls), go one corridor over to the right, down the skinny passage, pick up the energy at the bottom, head right, then down to a room with lasergates, then left to take out the boss. Meow. 36. THE DANGER ROOM Heading straight up for the boss is pretty suicidal. Instead, take out the 10 chambers individually by find the exposed bombs that will remove their walls (you'll have to get a start at each of the four corners of the board), then back to the center corridor to duel with the big boss. Explode the center chamber where the boss is lurking by hitting the bombs, don't get yourself caught in there....and be careful to stay away from the dramatically exploding yellow bombs that are lining the wall...they're dangerous. The drill things that the boss sends out are relatively speedy... but if you wait until they're almost on top of you, a missile scatterbomb should be able to take them out and do plenty of damage to the boss as well. 37. DEFENSIVE PERIMITER This level is a bit tedious. Be careful not to run out of scatterbomb. There are some healths lurking about, including at the very top (along with an infostation to the top left) In general you want to make your way up and to the left, into some big dangerous chambers. You don't have to kill everything in those rooms as you make your way down, but you have to have a sure hand on that R-trigger in order to make it in one piece! The bottom chamber is full of blue wobblies, be a little careful. 38. THE SF KOSMO BATTLESHIP Time to take it to 'em. I'm not sure what unlocks the blue doors around the first big chamber you hit; just kill lots of stuff. Afterwards, you'll have a decision: loop back to the starting point to pick up the health there, or go for it on the left side. If you go back you'll have to go through all the places you zoomed through (or carefully took your time with...) Luckily, the boss is really easy, so you don't have to go for the health and can just finish the level. He has some red bot guards that you can't kill (hiding behind the green crystal walls) but they shouldn't be able to do too much damage. 39. RED PLANET This is another smash and grab, I think. Maybe I've gotten a bit burnt out on this game, but I've started much preferring slashing and burning my way to the goal, rather than focussing on taking out every dang bot and gun emplacement. So the goal is to move all the way up and to the left. Eventually, you get to the main section around the boss. It needs to be broken open via bomblines to the left and the right.. and the right side even has a full health bonus up above. I don't know what causes the final blue door to open, but just keep killing things in the area until it does. This boss can be a little tricky, surrounded by crystals on all sides. Your first priority should be to take out all the gun emplacements, including the ones inside the cage. If you're careful, you might even be able to do this without waking up the boss...that would be a good thing to do. The boss isn't too aggressive, just pick top or bottom, fire away, and then swing around to the other side if the return fire gets to heavy. You'll ring her bell in no time. 40. BLOCKADE Now it starts to get tough. The first few chamber are pretty straightforward, just be careful and take out the flames with a safe pattern. After the flames, you'll enter a big room. Down below where you entered the room , there's a smaller chamber with a blue door. Once you blow up enough stuff to open the blue door, (I noticed scatterbombing outside the blue door tends to help... maybe it's a house or scenery that you have to blow up to open it?) enter the chamber, kill any bots there, and look....you should see a full health powerup as well as that lovable V! Be careful though...the powerups are almost embedded in unbreakable blocks, so if you use too much reflective scatterbomb, you might be prevented from getting the loot! Once you do get the V, Go hog wild and try to clear out everything in this chamber...some of the blue doors are very fussy indeed. Remember to switch to homing missiles to clean up what you miss with the Vornado...some of that stuff is hidden behind blue crystal. There's some health to the top right. Oh, and even if the door to the bottom right opens up, you need to clear out that lower part of the room, where all the lasergates are, since there are some bomblines blocking the corridor below. After going back up to the door on tie right, head down the far-lower right corridor to the passage you previous cleared. Be careful with the next room with a ton of gun emplacements, they'll make a sloppy player dead real quick like. The nearby flames don't make things any easier, and the generators are dropping bots like there's no tomorrow (which is appropriate, given that for the generators there won't be any tomorrow once you're through with them.) The flames are a bit tricky, since there are so many of them. I suggest overwhelming firepower. As far as I can tell, there are some lasergates near the final boss you just can't kill, I guess they are there to tighten the range you have to fight in. So be careful. Luckily, this boss is so slow that you should have little trouble if you stay out of its way. 41. STOCKADE Don't blow up the bombs above to get the health yet, knucklehead! Head right. Get the Vornado powerup, using my non-patented "fly upwards" unbreakable falling block technique. I suggest taking the corridor to the right (to a great big room full of lots and lots of gun emplacements) rather than the downward path, but it's up to you. There's some health on the far right wall. Now be CAREFUL with the bombs behind blue crystal in the passageway down. Probably your best bet is to get some of the bots below to fly into that hallway, otherwise you can't blow up the BIG bombs with your missiles. They might accidentally blow up the bombs as well... you don't want to be around when that happens. (One time through, I re-enacted the "escape the exploding Death Star" scene from Rogue Leader, just barely escaping the series of blasts one of the bots set off.) There's a full health to the right of this room, in a stack of breakable blocks. Grab it but only if you need it, since you can use it right before the end. Go to the right, blast the lasergates (you'll probably need to use your laser scatterbombs). There are then some columns of falling unbreakable blocks you need to rush through, or else you'll get stuck. There's then a small room with lots of enemy guns behind blue crystal, missile 'em. You then enter a very large and dangerous room. If you need them you can get the health at the top of the room, which is where you started the level. At the bottom of the room is a small chamber, with guns behind green crystal. I'd suggest using your laser and moving to the sides to take them out. And as a reward for being so good... a full health! Yay. Just be careful not to trap yourself! The next part is tricky. Blow up what you can through the few "blue crystal" windows there, but be very defensive. You probably want to dash through this. Clear your way to the right, zip back to the left, then go to the right again...on the final passage there's enough stuff to kill that hopefully you can generate some health packs by using your scatterbomb. The red door will shut behind you and you're momentarily safe. Pause and take a breather, you deserve it. Grab the full health up above if you haven't used it already. The boss chamber is well-guarded with guns. Some are easy to knock out. Others are harder, but with clever maneuvering you should be able to get rid of all of them before taking on the boss. In particular, the guns to the left and right center can be taken out with diagonal shots down, though the angle is tough. After that, despite all his boasting, the boss is going byebye. 42. GROUND ZERO This is another level where I tend to rush through. I skim along the ground until I get the Vornado, then head up and to the right. I kill enough stuff 'til the blue door opens and then I go through. The upper area is full of enemies. I tend to mostly ignore them, scatterbombing as needed. The interesting parts of this area are the three regions to the far left. The top and bottom regions have health. and bomblines you need to hit to get to the boss. Both are guarded by lasergates behind blue crystal. And the bottom bombline is annoying...you have to fly back down to the lower area to finish off the job, and then back right! There are some whole healths around...in the barrier between the two main areas, and to the top right of the top area. Now, I find the center area that the boss is hiding behind too dangerous to destroy. I rush in past it, activate the boss, and rush out, using laser scatterbombs to block out any projectiles headed my way. After I tend to have the boss follow me to the bottom chamber, going in circles in and out of the side chamber, with me firing a stream missiles all the time. Remember though, he can shoot through the green and blue crystals where the lasergates used to be, including his great big gun. He's also quick...just not that maneuverable. It's not elegant, but it works. 43. THE LAST GREAT WAR Wow...this level went by so quickly, I don't even know what happened! One minute I'm in that first chamber blowing up bots til I can get to a V symbol, then I'm dashing as fast as I can (with Vornado power) 'til I get to a room with flame throwers...but the blue door won't open! I rush back, blast my way to the yellow health that I didn't need, firing defensive missile scatterbombs, the blue door's open, I ricochet my way through past some lasergates, up and down through some twisty corridors (ignoring a bunch of guns there) and then I see this crazy Noire sheep! I missile a gun emplacement above and the bombline behind which seals off the boss chamber from the bad guys I left behind, take out the other game chamber, and then kill the boss, avoiding the few pathetic missiles that constitute his last defense. 44. THE FINAL CHALLENGE Phew, the final level! The whole level is divided into great big left and right sweeps. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you're determined to beat the final boss, you're going to get a lot of practice working your way though this level...I certainly did. That final boss is a real bastard. First Sweep (Left to Right): Your laser scatterbomb training should make short work of these rooms. Make sure you don't leave any robots to the left of the final vertical red door, since they may prevent the next door from opening! There's some health here, and if you're doing your delayed scatterbombs here you should have plenty of health. Second Sweep (Right to Left): These sections, rather gun emplacement centric, are separated by odd little piles of unbreakable blocks, often on top of generators that you have to destroy before you can squeeze through. These rooms have incredible 400-MAX potential... just wait 'til you see the whites of their missile exhaust. Third Sweep (Left to Right) The Laser Room: pretty easy Brick and Bot Room: easy. Don't get too close to the yellow explosive bricks though, and grab the health the bomblines leave behind. Laser Hallways: easy, just take your time and force your way through with laser scatterbombs Big Room: you might want to destroy the wobbly from the room's entrance. Clear out the floor by walking on it with your regular gun, using defensive scatterbombs. The red robot generators are very well armored. The second half of the big room is just crying out for some welltimed scatterbombs...after that, (and after possibly grabbing the health on the far right wall) fly along the ceiling and take care of the generator there. Then go down the chute, clearing it before you proceed. Be careful of the lasergates at the bottom (scatterbomb) and that brings us to Fourth Sweep (Right to Left) Grab more health on the right side if you need it. The rest of this sweep is just a bot bashing fest, with plenty of missile emplacements to keep things interesting. You have to destroy almost every bot before moving on. Fifth Sweep (Left to Right) Ah, these last few rooms are the last hurrah for robots, gun emplacements, and laser gates. One last chance to use those sweet reflective laser scatterbombs... be a little careful of the final two guns, they're hard to shoot without being on top of them. Finally, you're in the antechamber. There's a full health here that you could probably use. Also, you should take the time to fully charge your scatterbombs, by destroying buildings and even the wobblies if you need to. (You can also destroy some buildings in the boss room) Enter the bossroom, but don't wake him up yet...you'll probably be firing homing missiles, so you want to clear out the room from all the houses, so they don't distract your stupid little missiles. The final boss is really, really tough. The 19 boss was a preview, and 25 was tough...but this guy? Yow. Here's what I learned: * Keep your distance. Seriously. If he gets on top of you you're toast. * Dash from his bullets, firing back to give yourself some cover. You can't depend on defensive scatterbombs, often he'll launch a second wave. Then all you'll see is a big white light... * One possible technique: when you're a medium distance away (and he's not heading towards you), fire a pre-emptive scatterbomb strike. If you're close to his lasers, you'll launch a lot. Now you need to see how many strikes he launches back, and counter each one with another wave. That's probably the key to taking this guy out, always meet his scatterbombs with a scatterbomb of your own...and be ready to move away from the combat area once the slowdown stops. * Once you get his health down far enough, he goes Vornado. I kid you not, it's one of the most unfair things in the game. At that point, RUN. DASH. Always be thinking of where you're going next. Fire backwards 'cause he'll still be trying to laser you. When the music finally ends, you should be able to take him out. Hope you're a speedreader to read the ending! If not, some of the other FAQs have the text for you to read at your leisure. That's it...if you've made it through with out the cheat code, you're pretty tough! --COPYRIGHT-- Copyright 2002 By Kirk Israel . Not to be posted, published, or modified without explicit permission.