General Tips

This is the main section of the guide, a start-to-finish walkthrough that  encompasses the entire story. As I've stated numerous times up until now, spoilers aplenty await you, especially in this section. Help comes at a price, folks! Anyway, here's a few tips andpointers that are too general or broad to put in any other specific section:

General Tips

My Way or The Highway?

Of course not! The strategies listed here are not the only ones that work You may find a strategy that helps you more than what's written here, that may simply be better than what's written here. Feel free to send in strategies you find during your time in the game, your contribution will benefit thousands of players in the future!

Save Points

Every so often during game play, you'll reach a save point. If you quit and reload the game, you'll respawn at the last save point you reached. Save points are marked in the guide by [SP]. In a similar fashion, if you reload the save game, you'll spawn at the last save point you reached. There are also checkpoints, but these are not listed. If you die at any point during the game, you'll respawn at the last checkpoint/save point you reached.

Upgrades

As you may have figured out, weapons and maximum nanotech levels go nowhere but up during the course of the game. My weapon levels may be different to yours, as may my maximum nanotech levels and the weapons I have purchased. That's just the way it is, unfortunately, but if you follow the guide from start to finish, you probably have a smaller chance of encountering this problem.

Difficulty Settings

This walkthrough was written to accommodate for those playing through the game on Hard difficulty, but this only means that enemies have more health and their attacks do more damage than on easier difficulty settings. The rest is pretty much the same, regardless of the difficulty setting, so those playing on other difficulty levels can use this guide and reap the same rewards as one who is using the guide to get through the game on Hard difficulty.

Challenge Mode

Challenge Mode is available after you beat the final boss. It's essentially a replay of the game, but harder than the first time. This does not affect your Casual, Medium or Hard difficulty setting selection, and the transition can't be reversed. Each playthrough after the first is in Challenge Mode.

With this in mind, please note that the walkthrough works just as well in Challenge Mode as it does out without Challenge Mode, the game is just a bit tougher. Nothing new is introduced, what's already there is just beefed up a bit. To add to this, once you complete the game once, a new Hardcore difficulty setting is available, for new games and old game saves.

In Challenge Mode? Need Bolts Fast?

Here's a strategy from Sonic_Hero_007 and Laharl_666, extended by me:

1: Go to the Agorian Battleplex.
2: Go to the Gold Cup.
3: Do the battle against 100 enemies.
4: Keep doing it until you up your multiplier to 20.
5: Go to Krell Canyon, Planet Lumos/Gimlick Valley, Planet Morklon
6: Rush around on your Hoverboots smashing crates to get bolts.
7: Go to the place you didn't go to the first time.
8: Repeat step 6.
9: Repeat steps 5-8.

Keep Getting Killed by Random Ships in Space?

Then fly the hell past them and don't try to fight them. If you insist on destroying them for good, here's a tip from Marcus Hagins:

"There is an easy way to defeat the satellites in space without having to blow up X amount of ships. Basically, after you activate the satellite (shield pops up) just run away from the battle until it deactivates. Then, turn around and slowly approach the satellite until you hear your missiles lock on, at which point then you're free to fire and blow up the satellite.

This makes the Smuggler's missions easier. This can be done to all satellites except the one near vela gamma (its detection range was written right). For this glitch  If you retreat from the satellites they deactivate but their invincible status never comes back, and if you damage them a little bit, activating them in the process, you'll notice that amount of damage you did is missing."

I Hate Reading and Demand a Visual Representation of Whatever the Hell it is you Talk About in this Document!

Well, you're in luck, my friend, as this "deluxe" version of the walkthrough contains within it a complete video walkthrough, split up as you continue through the story. Just click the videos to play them!