Contra Advance (GBA) by KeeperBvK aka Burkhart von Klitzing Contact: [email protected] Dedication: I dedicate this work to my beloved dad who passed away on the 07/13/2005. I always loved you and I always will. Thank you so much for the time we had. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.1 Legal Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Guide may not be posted on any other website other than www.gamefaqs.com www.supercheats.com www.gamerhelp.com www.honestgamers.com without my permission and it may not be used commercially in any possible way. If you want to post it on another site please contact me via E-Mail or via the Message Board. Do not claim this guide or any part of it to be your creation. If you find any mistakes (even regarding the language as I'm German) please let me know. Copyright 2010 Burkhart von Klitzing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.2 Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.17: Finished on 02/07/2006, 15 KB large - 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 1., 2., 6. and 7. are done so far as well as the guide for Level 1. 0.34: Finished on 02/10/2006, 22 KB large - Wrote the walkthrough for Level 2. 0.50: Finished on 02/11/2006, 38 KB large - Added Level #3 - Enhanced the Controls section. - Improved the layout for bosses. 0.83: Finished on 02/17/2006, 57 KB large - Enhanced the controls section a bit. - Added Level 4 and 5, the FAQ and the introduction to the Walkthrough. 1.00: Finished on 02/17/2006, 78 KB large - Changed a little thing in the description of Level 5. - Added Level 6 and the Weapons section. 1.01: Finished on 03/25/2006, 79 KB large - Added supercheats.com 1.02: Finished on 05/13/2006, 79 KB large - Added gamerhelp.com 1.03: Finished on 03/12/2007, 79 KB large - Added honestgamers.com. 1.04: Finished on 04/08/2010, 79 KB large - Rewrote the strategies for two bosses of level 2. Thanks go out to Tophan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0.3 Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Latest Update | Search Key | ----------------------------|---------------|------------| 0.1 Legal Stuff | 1.03 | | 0.2 Version History | 1.04 | | 0.3 Contents | 1.04 | | ----------------------------|---------------|------------| 1. What is Contra Advance? | 0.17 | AAA | 2. Controls | 0.83 | BBB | 3. Walkthrough | 0.83 | CCC | 3.1 Level 1 | 0.50 | C11 | 3.2 Level 2 | 1.04 | C22 | 3.3 Level 3 | 0.50 | C33 | 3.4 Level 4 | 0.83 | C44 | 3.5 Level 5 | 1.00 | C55 | 3.6 Level 6 | 1.00 | C66 | 4. Weapons | 1.00 | DDD | 5. FAQ | 0.83 | EEE | ----------------------------|---------------|------------| 6. Closing Comments | 0.17 | FFF | 7. Experimental | 0.17 | GGG | ----------------------------|---------------|------------| Press Ctrl + F and enter the search key to quickly get to the desired section. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. What is Contra Advance? AAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Were you around when 16 bit gaming consoles were the best on the market? Yes? Then chances are you know Contra III or Super Probotector as it is called here in Europe. If not, let me just say that the Contra series is in some ways the predecessor of Metal Slug, but a bit more frantic. You control a soldier of fortune (or a robot in the German version of the old entries of the series) equipped with a machine gun, infinite ammo and some kick-ass attitude. Run around in 2D levels, dodge bullets and such, leap across gaps and kill lots of aliens and robots. Your hardest task though is to keep your cool, since Contra III is rock-hard. Why am I telling you this, you ask? Because Contra Advance basically is a port of Contra III with some dumb-ass changes. Seriously: Why did they remove the smart bombs? Where is the second weapon slot? Why remove the third difficulty setting? Furthermore Konami has removed the two top-view levels of the original and crammed in two stages from the Genesis Contra-game. These are decent levels, but I honestly would have appreciated the other ones way more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Controls BBB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ _| |_ |_ _| D-Pad: Move around, lie down and aim. |_| A: Jump. B: Shoot. Start: Pause the game. Select: Not in use. L: Hold L to lock your view and aim. R: Hold R to aim while standing still. -------------------- Button Combinations: -------------------- Press Down and A to let yourself fall through narrow platforms. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Walkthrough CCC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The walkthrough is based on the normal difficulty setting, hence on the hardest one available. On easy the game ends after the fourth level, you have more lives and continues at hand, and enemies can take less damage than on normal. Aside from that, there are no differences between the two difficulty settings as far as I can tell. If you know of any more dissimilarities, please let me know. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.1 Level 1=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C11 Walk over to the car, fire straight up and nab the shield (B) before blowing the wrecked car apart. Walk on and fire up right to get the Spread Shot (S), then (without stopping) shoot to the right to destroy some robots and a cannon. Fire up right again to hit a red sniper, then directly to the right again. Just before the end of the platform construction and right after destroying the second cannon jump up and keep firing to the right side so you hit the vessel that contains the Homing Missiles (H). Pick them up and enjoy the next section: Simply run and keep that B button pressed all the time. Get up onto the next set of platforms and walk as far to the right as necessary for triggering the "camera" to reveal the first mini-boss (if your timing is correct, you can get through this first section without ever stopping). O#################################------------------------------------------O |Defense Wall# Difficulty: *OOOO # | |################################# | |Remember these from the NES? Luckily they've become really easy. Stay on | |the upper platform and keep firing your homing missiles, with your only | |motion being a simple jump whenever the sniper on top of the wall shoots. | |Those you don't have the Missiles for whatever reason can quickly take | |down the robot, aim bottom right, press and hold L and jump repeatedly | |while shooting to take down the first mini-boss. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Continue to the right and enter the tank. Don't waste any time shooting your enemies, but roll over them (which, in my opinion, is more fun, too ^^) and stop only beneath the second blue grenade guy. When he throws his explosive treat, the time has come to drive on and to trigger the second defense wall. O####################################--------------------------------------O |Defense Wall# Difficulty: 1/2*OOOO # | |#################################### | |All you need to do here is to fire off your tank's cannon one single time | |to tear this boss to shreds. If you don't have a tank with you (although I| |can't really think of any reason for not having it ready), refer to the | |tips for the first defense wall. | O--------------------------------------------------------------------------O Take down one last cannon and a handful of robots before you can finally grant your right thump a break. Proceed through the level until a vessel enters the screen from the left. Wait for it to reach the right half of the screen, then take it down and pick up the shield which will safely take you through the oncoming fire pillar section. Otherwise wait for them to lower and jump over them. After a short while a building collapses, telling you to position yourself in the left corner of the screen to await the next mid-boss. O#########################--------------------------------------------------O |Tank# Difficulty: *OOOO # | |######################### | |Wait for the tank to reach the foreground. Now get your trigger finger back| |to work, hold the L button and move along with the tank so you stay only a | |few feet away from it. Doing this ensures you don't get hit by the boss's | |explosives. After driving back a bit the tank stops, followed by a drive to| |the left after a few seconds, so be prepared. Any weapon other than the | |laser will grant him enough time to drive to the left twice, whereas the | |laser speeds up the fight slightly. I recommend sticking with the Homing | |Missiles anyway. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Possible weapons up to here: Directly after the checkpoint you'll be able to nab the Homing Missiles and up to here the game is really easy, so you might want to pick a weapon of your choice, although the Homing Missiles definitely stand above the rest. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ***OO It's perfectly possible to complete the whole level just with your standard weapon, but it's plain unnecessary. Every other weapon is more useful. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O Nothing especially outstanding here, yet a bit more comfortable than the Machine Gun. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect. 'Nuff said. ______ Laser:| Rating: ****O Good for most of this section and the best weapon against the tank. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ****O The worst of the special weapons for this area, but still a choice you can't go wrong with. Checkpoint Proceed to the next halt (there's a chance to get Homing Missiles again, if you've missed out on them before) and get up onto either platform. Wow, now that's a cut-scene that Blizzard and Square couldn't have done any better, right? Ok, not really, but who cares? Grab onto the rail and move on. When you see fire balls popping out of the fire field in front of you, move back until the burst is barely on-screen. You can shoot the fire balls to score some points, but in terms of advancing it's completely unnecessary. After a while the action stops eventually giving you the time to quickly pass by. Wait in front of some more "bubbles" in the fire for a big ball to rise straight up. While you can simply wait for it to disappear for about a second or so, you are gladly invited to destroy it to get some easy points. Jump onto the grey platform, time your next jump and destroy two more big fire balls for your first extra life. Dodge another flame pillar and proceed to an arc-shaped flame. Wait for it to cease and quickly jump to the other rail and onto the concrete platform where you wait for the flame to rise and fall again before continuing to the last platform. It is possible to reach it without waiting on the first platform, but why would you want to take this unnecessary risk? The flames die out even more sudden then they came, allowing you to reach the first real boss. O##################################-----------------------------------------O |Mutant Turtle# Difficulty: **OOO # | |################################## | |Wait on the top-most platform at the very left end of the screen for the | |turtle to enter the area. Then keep firing at the bee-hive on its back | |(they've certainly got some crazy designers over at Konami) and kill the | |swarm, either by simply shooting (Homing Missiles), or Holding R to hit the| |hive and the bees consecutively (fast weapons like the Machine Gun and the | |Spread Shot) or by jumping up and carefully aiming at the swarm. Ignore the| |upper swarm as you are well out of reach. | |Also watch out for the brain between the legs as it fires small bullets at | |you. Jump over them and destroy the hive. | |From now it's pretty much a piece of cake. Stay at the left end of the | |screen and jump down to the ground where you need to hit the turtle's only | |vulnerable point: The brain. If you have the Homing Missiles, lie down and | |shoot below the head. Otherwise stand upright and keep attacking the head | |to make it go out of the way. In any case the boss has three attacks left | |that can hit you. Dodge the bullets as before, jump up to the top-most | |platform when a sparkling white ball appears in the mutant's mouth and do | |the same when the mouth opens without the whole sparkling. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Possible weapons up to here: The second area of the first level mainly consists of jumping and defeating the boss and in the next level you'll quickly get access to other weapons, so, again, there isn't really a bad weapon. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ****O Very good against the bees which are the main threat in the boss fight. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ***OO A bit better against the bees but worse against the brain. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect. 'Nuff said. Again. ______ Laser:| Rating: ****O A bit risky against the bees, but it will shoot the brain to smithereens in no time. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ***OO Basically the same as the laser but a bit weaker. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.2 Level 2=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C22 Start moving and shoot the two item vessels. Stick with your homing missiles if you still have them, otherwise pick up the spread shot. Wait here for the items you don't want to nab to disappear and shoot to the right and to the left alternately. Now move on to the first small block lying in your way. Don't jump up just yet. Instead wait for an enemy to enter the screen on the right side, then grab onto the railing at the ceiling and let yourself fall off again, past the block. Proceed further, always keeping an eye on both sides of the screen, and leave two more blocks behind like you did before. Keep up your fire to the right to quickly dispose a sniper guarding the end of the wagon. He might be able to shoot once, which can easily be dodged by lying down, but usually you're able to kill him and move on in a single motion. Close in on the wall and destroy it. Since this will also finish off any enemies in your back, don't bother about them. Climb up the second wagon to reach the first mini-boss. O################################-------------------------------------------O |Robot Twins# Difficulty: **OOO # | |################################ | |When encountering these guys for the first time they both seem dangerous | |and are dangerous, yet they aren't in fact, once you know what to do. They | |move up and down and shoot a single energy beam alternately. Stand on the | |upper platform and keep shooting either robot relentlessly. The first three| |enemy beams will definitely miss you, whereas the next two won't. Get to | |know the timing of the hostile shots to jump above the two critical ones at| |the right moment. When using the laser you don't even have to move a single| |time, but I don't recommend it here, since any other weapon is better | |throughout the rest of the level and since this battle is short and easy no| |matter what weapon you use. Once either robot is gone, the other one drops | |to the floor and crawls around rather quickly, yet ineffectively. Simply | |stay where you are, hold the R button and destroy it. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: Keep the homing missiles if possible. Slow weapons drive up the difficulty for the first section and other quick weapons are simply less effective than the homing missiles. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ****O Really good for this area. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O The same as the Machine Gun. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect. 'Nuff said. Again. Does it get old? ______ Laser:| Rating: **OOO The Laser makes the mini-boss fight a bit easier, which doesn't make up for the increased difficulty against the troops in the first wagon. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ***OO A bit better against the soldiers than the Laser is. Grab the railing and dodge the bullet coming from the biker when he enters the screen from the right. Then shoot the first item vessel to reveal the homing missiles unless you already have them. The bikers respawn endlessly and shooting them slows you down, so get to know their shooting pattern and dodge their fire. Most often they will enter the screen from the right, close in on you, shoot, stay beneath you for a brief moment, leave the screen on the right and repeat all this, but sometimes they use a different pattern, staying beneath you all the time, shooting every three left-right motions. Climb up at the end of the railing to reach the next sub-boss. O####################################---------------------------------------O |Dumb-ass cannon# Difficulty: ****O # | |#################################### | |Given the high amount of luck necessary in this fight, I find this to be | |one of the hardest boss fights in the whole game, although it can (!) be | |one of the easiest. The cannon arm will smash the ground five times before | |the second phase of the battle begins. Stand a bit to the right of the | |enemy and wait for the second bounce before moving all the way to the left | |Afterwards position yourself under the red button and maneuver around to | |get the red button directly between you and the cannon when the 5-second | |timer reaches zero. The cannon fires off three shots before returning to | |the first attack pattern and that is just what it takes to defeat this | |boss. Unfortunately, though, sometimes it is not possible to make the enemy| |hit himself and standing in the centre of the screen when the arm starts | |bouncing again easily results in the loss of a life. So if the cannon has | |missed once or when you foresee that the third shot will probably miss, get| |running to the left end of the screen. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O O##################################-----------------------------------------O |Running Robot# Difficulty: ****O # | |################################## | |This boss is all about the correct weapon and about speed besides skills, | |to ensure you don't lose a life. Lie down at the right end of the train and| |keep shooting. The boss will fire of four homing missiles that sail off | |above you and strike the train a few feet behind you. Then move to the left| |end and stand right between two spots where the now-fired energy beams | |cross. Lie down where you are and attack again. The robot launches some | |blue and red balls up into the air. These balls roll across the train and | |can easily be dodged by jumping a few times. | |When this attack ceases, aim up right, Hold L and prepare for the second | |phase of the battle. Your enemy climbs up and fires off four more homing | |missiles. Standing close to him will take care of this. Next, move left | |(still firing) to the end of the screen and both release the L button and | |lie down once the boss is about to crush you. Stand up, lock on up right | |again and move a few steps to the right while shooting. Return to the | |corner and lie down to dodge the kick. Stand up, lock on up right, close in| |on the robot and jump over the energy ball moving along the ground when the| |robot crouches. When he gets back to jumping, move back left, duck, get up | |again and fire some more. The next kick is kind of odd. During my first | |couple of tries I would always get hit, no matter what I did, but after | |having tried it again now a few years later, I just need to lie down to | |avoid any harm. And a fellow contributor by the nick Tophan tells me to run| |to the left corner, crouch instead of lying down by pressing L, wait for | |the boss to swing back his leg and THEN release L to lie down in order to | |avoid the kick. Either method should work, though. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Possible weapons up to here: Either have one of the big guns equipped or, better yet, keep the homing missiles. The only section you will use your weapon here, is the boss and the only weapons that can possibly deal with him in time to preserve every single one of your precious lives are the Homing Missiles, the Laser and the Normal Missiles. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: *OOOO You will definitely lose a life at the boss. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: *OOOO The same as the Machine Gun. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect. Not 'nuff said this time. Fighting the boss still requires some serious skills and constant hitting him even with this great weapon. Sticking with the Homing Missiles isn't just very effective against the runner robot, but also for the next level and it will take some time before you encounter a new set of them. ______ Laser:| Rating: ***OO This can take care of the boss without losing a life, but it is really difficult to do, so there's no reason to have this instead of the Homing Missiles. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ****O The same as the laser, but with a slightly higher rate of fire when standing close to the robot. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.3 Level 3=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C33 Move to the right, ignore the vessel containing the very first flamethrower of the game and stop when a metal ball coming from the left enters the screen and shoot it once it pops up. Next, move on and jump up to quickly get rid of the sniper waiting on the next platform to the right. Leap to the sniper's position (don't worry, you can hang onto the wall), grab the railing and destroy the second metal ball, while the other one rolls into the abyss. Let go of the railing, defeat three more of these enemies, then jump near the end of the railing to shatter another sniper. Blow apart another metal ball coming from the left and get to the next platform, where you should act quickly to nab a laser in case you have no special weapon whatsoever at the moment. Two more balls from the right and one from the left await as well as a sniper (this time he's at your height). Don't wonder too much as of why the designers at Konami put a swinging platform here. Grab the next railing instead. Ignore the flying aliens as long as none of them catches you. If one does, don't worry, since they need quite some time to kill you and all you need to do escape their grip is dealing a bit of damage. O#########################################----------------------------------O |Spiky Spinning Thing# Difficulty: **OOO # | |######################################### | |It is easy to lose some lives here by acting too cocky, but being careful | |and taking your time will get you through here absolutely safely. | |First of all, check which weapon you have. | |Is it either the laser or the flamethrower (although I told you not to get | |it)? Then stay on the railing, watch out not to grab onto the spinning arms| |or to get hit by the boss and bring yourself in position near the boss so | |you can hit the red spot by shooting diagonally down right (the L button | |helps a lot). | |Is it the machine gun? In this case you will need to get a hold on one of | |the spinning arms. Do so by closing in on the boss, but only if its arms | |are currently spinning into your direction (clock-wise, when being on the | |right side and counter clock-wise when being on the left side). You | |automatically grab an arm and start spinning below the robot. Strike as | |many hits as possible, then return to the railing again when going up. Do | |not try to jump over the boss. While it is definitely possible and not | |really too hard, it is an avoidable risk. Instead, wait for the arms to | |start spinning in the other direction and repeat the procedure. After a | |while the robot will begin exploding and obviously you hang onto him while | |he does. Don't panic. Just make a full spin to check the speed, so you can | |time your jump into safety. | |If you have the homing missiles, though, sit back, relax and fire | |relentlessly down right while staying at the left end of the railing. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Move on and pick up the Spread Shot inside the second item vessel unless you have the Homing Missiles. O#########################################----------------------------------O |Spiky Climbing Thing# Difficulty: **OOO # | |######################################### | |When grabbing onto the climbing wall the next mini-boss already appears. | |First all you need to do is dodging his arms. Do this by staying relatively| |close to the upper arm. | |Once you reach some girders in the background the second battle phase | |begins: Now the robot is trying to strike you with its two drillers, | |limiting your possible dodging space with spikes. When encountering this | |thing for the first time it seems rather hard to stay alive, but | |fortunately it isn't. Simply keep an eye on the constant back and forth | |motion of the boss. The robot will never, I repeat: never, rush in on you, | |when it isn't amidst its rightwards motion. Use this to your advantage as | |follows: Position yourself at the upper end of the climbing wall and start | |moving downwards when the boss begins moving to the right. Either it | |strikes the wall, giving you plenty of time to shoot, or it stops close to | |the wall, granting you a bit time to shoot, or it stops quickly. No matter | |what exactly the robot does, get back up once it starts moving back to the | |left. Then repeat the procedure until the battle comes to an end. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Continue along the climbing wall and shoot three snipers one by one. Do not move to far, since this would render it impossible to dodge the bullets. Just climb until you can hit one sniper, kill him and climb down to not get hit. Ignore the laser item at the top. Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: Like always, the Homing Missiles should be your weapon of choice, although any other gun with a high rate of fire isn't too bad either. Slow weapons on the other hand have to be avoided past the first mini-boss. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ***OO Very good throughout the whole level besides against the first mini-boss. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O Can only be obtained past the first mini-boss, but from then on it will serve you well. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect. Seriously, these fellas are the best thing to have in any situation. ______ Laser:| Rating: **OOO The Laser is well-suited for the whole level except for the third mini-boss fight (which is about to come). Given it can only be received before this battle you might use it for short while but be sure to change weapons before the third mini-boss. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: *OOOO If you choose to use the Normal Missiles you will be able to exchange them only for the Laser before fighting the third mini-boss, rendering them useless. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: ***OO The Flamethrower is dangerous to use against the snipers, but it takes care of the first mini-boss easily (yet a bit slowly). Furthermore it is the safest weapon against the third boss besides the Homing Missiles. O########################---------------------------------------------------O |UFO# Difficulty: ***OO # | |######################## | |This battle is pretty much determined by which weapon you've got. I highly | |recommend any gun with a high rate of fire and by any, I mean any. If you | |don't listen to me and face this thing either with the Laser or with the | |Normal Missiles you are very likely to lose a life. | |Anyway, no matter what weapon you are equipped with, stay in the left | |corner at the beginning of the battle to let the enemy waste its grenades. | |After it stops this attack, it will open its vulnerable eye and unload lots| |of one-hit enemies. | |With one of the big guns your only chance is to lock your fire up right via| |the left shoulder button and to deal as much damage as possible in as | |little time as possible. Try to hit the small enemies in mid-air while they| |are unloaded or else you will have to shoot them on the ground giving new | |the chance to reach the ground or to jump directly on your head. If an | |enemy that walks on the ground has been around for a few seconds already, | |you can try to run from him, instead of shooting it, since they will drop | |down through the bottom after a while. | |Those who are equipped with the Spread Shot, the Machine Gun or the | |Flamethrower can feel a bit more safe, but they still need to be careful. | |Stand under the boss and shoot upwards into the eye, spraying up right and | |up left as enemies appear to kill them. Sometimes, though, an enemy might | |zip through your fire and land on the ground. If this happens, immediately | |take care of him and retreat from the direct battle. Stay in a corner and | |defend yourself until the UFO has thrown another set of grenades. | |Am I missing a weapon? Yeah, I've left out the Homing Missiles so far, | |simply because they, once again, are the optimum to have. If you were able | |to keep them throughout the second and third level up to here, stay in the | |left corner lock your aim up right, fire and jump a bit to steer your | |missiles not solely into the eye, but also to the smaller enemies. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Proceed to a Shield item that will get you securely past four snipers and into a big building. Pick up the Normal Missiles unless you have the Homing ones and use it to destroy two sentry guns popping out of the background. To do so, simply run and gun constantly while aiming up right. Destroy another gun before grabbing onto the swinging platform and jumping up a level. Smash another gun to smithereens before taking care of the three winged robots coming from the left, then quickly jump up, kill three more robots and obliterate another two cannons prior to jumping up a few platforms. Two more cannons await you before you can finally reach the top where you need to deal with the last two guns. Next is one of the few, dangerous jumping passages, although it becomes rather easy with a bit of practicing. Jump towards the first swinging platform and wait for an arm of the second one to be at about 11 'o clock before trying to reach it. Now you're pretty much safe and you can move on, picking up the Homing Missiles in case you don't have them. O#############################################------------------------------O |The original Robot Twins# Difficulty: *OOOO # | |############################################# | |Enter the room and move back to the left wall nearly instantly. Wait for | |the door to be closed (or else you get crushed) and climb up the wall to | |barely reach the ceiling. In fact this already was the hardest part of this| |boss. From now on it's only shooting and waiting for the robots to explode.| |The red robot is able to grab onto the ceiling and its blue counterpart can| |fire a gatling gun at the ground, so only the red robot is theoretically | |able to hit you where you are, but since he's so terribly slow and since | |you can easily deal lots of damage to him in no time with your Homing | |Missiles, he'll be gone after a few seconds. Did I say gone? Well, not | |really gone, yet. Once you've damaged either robot a lot, it loses its | |legs, leaving behind the upper body that will bounce around at high speed. | |Fortunately, though, they can only hit targets on the ground or at the | |walls but not at the ceiling. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O O################################-------------------------------------------O |Their Daddy# Difficulty: **OOO # | |################################ | |Think this was a lame level-end boss? It wasn't. Well, it was certainly | |quite lame, but it wasn't the final boss of level 3. A big, Terminator- | |inspired, robot smashes its claws through the background wall to make | |himself way. Although this is a spectacular sight at first, the battle | |itself is fairly easy if you know what to do. | |Stand beneath the head and shoot it. After a few seconds two energy bolts | |will leave its eyes, telling you to run. Simply run off to the left and, | |without ever pausing, climb up the wall and move along the ceiling until | |you are at the right side of the head. Let go of the ceiling, start | |shooting again and eventually dodge the energy bolts one last time before | |they disappear. Now the boss begins employing a flamethrower, installed in | |his mouth. It will always move clock-wise, so stand right of it when it | |begins and follow its motion. Make one and a half rounds through the room, | |shooting at the head when being directly above or below it, so you end up | |at the ceiling above the boss. He disappears, leaving behind some time | |bombs. After three seconds they burst apart in relatively big explosions, | |but being at the ceiling gives you a great advantage: You can either stay | |where you are, move a bit side-ways or quickly drop down and hide in a safe| |place on the ground. | |When the big guy returns the whole battle is repeated, only with his health| |being as low as you made it. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Possible weapons up to here: If possible, keep the Homing Missiles. If it isn't, relax and use any other weapon besides the Flamethrower: This area is fairly easy with few enemies (which furthermore can't stand lots of damage) and easy bosses and in addition you can pick up Homing Missiles shortly after the beginning of the next level. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ****O Very good. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O Very good. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Once again, the Homing Missiles take the icing. ______ Laser:| Rating: ****O Very good. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ****O Very good. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: **OOO The Flamethrower is the only weapon I recommend not to use here. It is well- suited to get to the bosses, but do yourself a favor and at least exchange it for the Homing Missiles just before facing the robots. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.4 Level 4=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C44 Whatever weapon you have currently, lock your aim up right via the L button and position yourself on the left. A bunch of bikers will pass by above you, being a rather small threat, but a neat life spender. Hopefully you still have the Homing Missiles as this allows you to take down all enemies without moving, and receiving a whooping three lives. Otherwise pick up the Normal Missiles, keep shooting and watch the bikers closely. There are two kinds of bikers, both looking the same but using different weapons. They either shoot down-right with a machine gun-like weapon (this can't hurt you, when being on the left) or they lob down a napalm grenade that leaves a trail of flames (note that only the flames can kill you). These are thrown when you are beneath the biker and they only burn to the left, so use this to your advantage. If you can't destroy a bike and a grenade is thrown at you, jump up and move a bit to the right in mid-air to land next to the detonation. If another grenade follows shortly after, simply move a bit further to the right. Afterwards move back to the left and keep hunting down bikes until you reach the first mini-boss. O#########################--------------------------------------------------O |Tank# Difficulty: *OOOO # | |######################### | |Stay at the far left, switch from the L to the R button and alternately | |kill a jet-pack enemy up-right and attack the tank on the road. This way | |neither will the flying enemies be able to shoot even once, nor will the | |tank's homing missiles come close to you. Wielding the Homing Missiles | |eases this fight even more like it did so many times before: Keep shooting | |up-right to shred the tank to pieces. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Move to the centre of the screen and lock your aim up-left via L to take down two laser guns. The first item vessel contains the precious Homing Missiles, whereas the second one delivers a Flamethrower. Pick the first one. Keep shooting up-left to quickly destroy three more automatic guns (the Flamethrower both takes too long and blocks your sight) before facing one of the crappiest things in the whole game: A strange snake-like metal-thing wobbling around wildly. This pesky thing cannot be destroyed, so don't even try to. Get close to it and see for yourself when you think you might have a chance to swiftly pass by beneath it. O################################-------------------------------------------O |Rail Hanger# Difficulty: ***OO # | |################################ | |This is probably the very only place in this game where the Homing Missiles| |increase the difficulty rather than decreasing it. | |The main target is the black guy moving about above you. The only way for | |him to hurt you is to wait for you to jump at him. Avoid this by simply not| |jumping. Easy, right? The difficulty comes in with the red guys entering | |the scene from either one of the four openings in the battle ship. They try| |to move in on you and drop down onto your bike. Unfortunately they are | |pretty quick and sometimes your Homing Missiles steer to the boss while a | |red guy pops in and directly jumps at you. | |When having the Homing Missiles stay in the right corner and constantly | |fire straight up. This should take care of every minor enemy except for | |those coming out of the second hole from the right. In case one comes out | |of there, jump up to dodge his assault. | |If you have another fast weapon try to stay below the boss while constantly| |attacking him and spraying your fire to either side when a minor enemy | |approaches. | |Slow weapons work pretty badly here, but if you happen to have one, I guess| |you need to act as if you had a quick one and combine really good timing | |with some serious amount of luck. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Lock your aim up-left again and destroy the first two laser cannons. Now get close to the beam of the third gun and wait for it to cease before quickly passing by. Do the same for the fourth gun. Nab the Laser, unless you have the Homing Missiles, and blow up the big gun or else it will definitely kill you after you pass by it. Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: Homing Missiles all the way, although any other weapon (besides the Flamethrower) should get you through safely as well. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ****O The Machine Gun is very well-suited for the whole level. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O Even a bit better than the Machine Gun, since it easily deals with the red guys at the second mini-boss. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Once again, these are absolutely great to have, except for that you will need to watch out a bit in the second mini-boss fight. ______ Laser:| Rating: ***OO Very good, besides against the second mini-boss, where you will need to aim very accurately to take him down quickly. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ***OO The same as the Laser. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: **OOO The Flamethrower is plain bad against the bikers, as well as against the automatic cannons, but at least it comes in very handy against the rail hanging guy. O#######################################------------------------------------O |Chain-legged thing# Difficulty: ***OO # | |####################################### | |Before this boss appears you get to choose two different ways this battle | |will be like. Staying on the right side will make the boss use its bullet | |weapon which you don't want to happen, trust me. Staying on the left side | |gets the boss to use its Homing Missiles which is way less dangerous for | |you. Oh, before you even come to think of it: Staying in the centre will | |result in the loss of a life. | |I suggest being in the left corner, locking your aim up-right via L and | |constantly shooting. The enemy drops down from above and runs to the left | |first. When he reaches the left side for the first time you need to jump up| |to dodge his legs, but afterwards all you have to worry about are his | |missiles. Just keep shooting up-right and follow the boss closely as it | |returns to the centre of the screen and walks back to the left. Sticking | |really close to him takes care of the missiles. | |If you are on the right side of the boss, anyway, you need to know the | |timing of the bullet weapon and dodge it by jumping in the correct moment. | |Doing this is extremely hard, thus you will likely lose a life and get | |another chance to fight the boss from the left. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Only grab the Spread Shot if you either have the Machine Gun or the Flamethrower. Then hang onto the rocket below the helicopter. O##########################-------------------------------------------------O |Ninja# Difficulty: ****O # | |########################## | |Hang at the small rectangular shape near the right end of the rocket and | |shoot down-left. The enemy rockets diagonally up and once he has passed | |the copter, you should move left to dodge his fall. Now he'll use his | |grappling hook to hang onto the rocket, followed by either one of his two | |attacks: He'll either swing around, hitting you if you are to far away from| |the hook, or he'll pull himself up to the rocket where he uses his sword | |for a single strike in combination with the throw of a shuriken. After this| |attack he also starts swinging around with his hook. | |When the boss has swung for a few seconds he always releases the hook and | |shoots it back up diagonally. The most important thing in this battle is to| |foresee where the hook will strike the rocket. Once you can do this, | |position yourself close to the predicted spot and look whether the enemy | |resumes swinging (in this case just hit him as hard as you can) or gets up | |to your level and strikes with his sword (jump straight up when he's | |reached the rocket). | |The only time when you should cease fire is when the ninja releases his | |hook to re-attach it to the rocket. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O After the battle the copter fires you off towards the final boss of the level (and of the easy difficulty setting). Try to stay as far to the left as possible and jump from one rocket to another, so you don't happen to be on one that reaches the right end of the screen where it blows up. O#######################################------------------------------------O |Battle Ship Engine# Difficulty: ****O # | |####################################### | |Lock your aim to the right via the left shoulder button, keep firing all | |the time and switch rockets over and over again so you don't fall down and | |lose a life. The two automatic guns are your first targets, but fortunately| |they aren't much of a fight: Staying far left renders their shots useless | |and constantly firing takes care of the small flying object. After a while,| |once one of the guns is down, you can concentrate on the other one. If the | |upper one is still intact, hang onto a rocket on the up-most level and jump| |up repeatedly. If the other one is still working, grab the lowest rocket | |and keep shooting. | |When both are taken down, the creamy centre of the battle ship becomes | |vulnerable. Still keep shooting rightward and watch out for the new hostile| |attack: The engine fires off energy balls that aren't capable of killing | |you directly but of destroying a rocket. These shots are launched twice | |within a short amount of time before giving you a while to relax. | |Stay both as far up and left as possible and watch out not to be at a | |rocket that's about to be shattered, when there are none left below you. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Possible weapons up to here: Anything will do here, except for the Flamethrower. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ****O The Machine Gun is very well-suited for this short section. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ****O See the Machine Gun rating. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Absolutely great, once again. ______ Laser:| Rating: ***** On-par with the Homing Missiles. While you won't hit as often as with the Homing Missiles, you can end all three battles here quickly. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ***** See the Laser rating. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: *OOOO Terrible. Especially the final boss is nearly impossible to beat with the Flamethrower. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.5 Level 5=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C55 Lock your aim straight right via L and take down a few frog-like mutants. Watch the glass cylinders in the background and prepare for a fight when one contains a full-grown mutant. Keep shooting, step back a few feet and jump to constantly hit the enemies. Don't forget to pick up the Homing Missiles on the way. O################################-------------------------------------------O |Hybrid Ball# Difficulty: **OOO # | |################################ | |Stand in the centre of the room as the boss enters. The half-bio, | |half-metal ball spawns four scythe arms in a diagonal position at the | |beginning. These arms are pulled in and moved a few degrees one-by-one now,| |but if you start attacking the arm on your left directly from the | |beginning, it will be gone really quickly, giving you enough room to dodge | |any attacks. Start destroying the arm to your right and go until all arms | |are gone. The more you tear apart, the faster the other ones become. | |The second battle phase is even easier than the first one already is: The | |ball splits up into two invulnerable balls, that move across the screen | |horizontally and build a single ball again, on contact, to smash straight | |down. Lock your aim straight up in case you are equipped with the Homing | |Missiles and wait in the centre of the room. When the balls close in on | |each other, move away and start shooting. Simply repeat this a few times. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O O#########################--------------------------------------------------O |Frog# Difficulty: *OOOO # | |######################### | |Think, the level began way too easy? Face this boss and you won't even want| |to hear that the level has already come close to its end. | |Stay on the bottom level and watch the cute little frog climb the wall and | |the ceiling counter-clock-wise. At some point it will halt and create a | |brown line running across the room a few times, which indicates where the | |frog will zoom along before resuming its normal movement, followed by | |another halt and so on and so on. That's all this boss can do! Just | |position yourself at some place where the brown line doesn't go through and| |you're safe. If you're fast about it you can even take down this thing | |amidst its very first assault. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: Take the Homing Missiles. You even get the possibility to pick them up twice in this short and easy level, so there's no excuse to not have them. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ***OO Very good in this level, but it makes the first section of the next level harder than when having the Homing Missiles. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: ***OO See above. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Perfect for this level and they ease the next level, too. ______ Laser:| Rating: ****O This is also pretty good for the fifth level, but not for the sixth one. Still it's better than the slow weapons. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ****O The same as the Laser. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: **OOO Why would anybody want to use this? Just as Homing Missiles take the icing again, the Flamethrower is the worst to have one more time. The final boss of this level is pretty hard with it, but the rest of it can be beaten with the Flamethrower, as well as the beginning of the next level can be. O###########################------------------------------------------------O |Mutant# Difficulty: ***OO # | |########################### | |Stand in the centre of the room and wait for the countdown above the boss's| |head to reach 1. This is when you start walking right and jump up to stay | |unharmed of the rush attack. Get close to the mutant, fire constantly and | |wait for it to prepare one of its three attacks: | |1. The boss starts another countdown. Do exactly the same as the first | |time. | |2. The boss impersonates Son Goku, creating an energy ball in its hands. | |Jump up once. | |3. The mutant starts floating a few feet above the ground to shoot a bunch | |of energy balls. Stay close to him and keep shooting (press R). | |When he's taken enough damage the bad guy transforms into its second, even | |uglier, form. Stay in either corner and pass by below the boss if you need | |to, so you are in the opposite corner than the boss. If he's in the left | |corner, lie down beneath the neck to dodge the next attack. If he's in the | |right corner, stay relatively close to the left end of the screen, land | |some nice hits and closely watch the junk falling from the ceiling to dodge| |it. | |After a while he'll mutate one last time: His heart floats high up in the | |centre of the screen, while it builds a round barrier around it. Get to the| |left side of the boss, lock your aim up-right via L and get shooting. You | |can hurt him really badly before he starts moving in this phase of the | |battle, hence do so. Then he will begin floating rightwards in a sinus- | |curve-shape pattern, giving you the chance to zip by in the correct moment.| |Predict where you will be able to pass by and switch from locking your aim | |up-right and up-left until the battle finally comes to an end. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O This time I leave out the weapons section, since you can't find any items between the last checkpoint and the end of the level. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=3.6 Level 6=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-C66 Cross the first abyss and quickly move on, while alternately killing an alien in your back and one ahead. After killing a total of four enemies you should reach the first mini-boss (ignore the Spread Shot). O###############################--------------------------------------------O |Alien Head# Difficulty: **OOO # | |############################### | |Stay on the lower platform and to the far-left, where you keep shooting at | |the alien's mouth. The only thing the boss can do is spawning alien embryos| |from his mouth, but you'll automatically take down most of them by | |attacking the mouth. If any of them still come close to you, press R and | |aim at them. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O As you proceed now, check which weapon you have. If you are blessed with the Homing Missiles, move slowly and halt when one of those red mouths sticking to the wall are barely on-screen. You can kill them easily this way one-by- one, but keep an eye on the red running aliens that keep attacking from the right and from the left. If you don't have the Homing Missiles, on the other hand, killing the mouths is too dangerous, since they spit out little spiky homing balls. These can be destroyed, too, but it requires some precise timing, especially when being attacked by the red aliens at the same time. So the easier, yet not easy but just easier, alternative is to ignore the mouths, zip through this passage and only attack the running aliens. The best weapon to have after this section is, of course, the Homing Missiles Launcher, which can be obtained in the second item vessel. If you missed it or already lost it again, you should nab the Laser inside the fourth item vessel or even the Flamethrower inside the third one. This time even this otherwise pretty useless weapon has its purpose. Upon reaching the tunnel, the red aliens stop appearing, so relax and pick up the Spread Shot (but only if you have no other special weapon at all). O##############################---------------------------------------------O |The Heart# Difficulty: **OOO # | |############################## | |The main target here is the heart, as destroying it will end the battle, | |but still you better ignore it first. Instead watch the face huggers | |crawling along the ceiling and the floor. Stay as far to the left as | |possible and kill any aliens you see, before even thinking about destroying| |anything vital. Those four vessels on the ground and above the heart | |contain an infinite amount of face hugger, releasing them randomly from | |time to time. Since these little aliens behave rather unpredictable | |(switching from ceiling to floor and vice versa) and given they are the | |hazard in this battle, you should take care of the vessels quickly. Lie | |down and destroy the two lower capsules first, always keeping an eye on any| |aliens possibly spawning up above. Then lock your aim up-right via L and | |destroy the first capsule on the ceiling. Now simply stand back and drive | |as much ammo into the heart as possible. Your only concern is the remaining| |vessel that can still spawn new face huggers, but since it's far away and | |since it's only one, it doesn't really endanger you and it leaves you | |plenty of time to react. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Move on and pick up the Laser unless you wield the Homing Missiles. Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: Any weapon will get you through the first section of the last level but the Homing Missiles ease it again. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ***OO The Machine Gun is an ok weapon here. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: **OOO The Spread Shot is as good as the Machine Gun until you reach the checkpoint, since the next mini-boss requires precise hitting and this weapon can't deliver. So if you want to use it, switch to the Laser just before the checkpoint. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Great. ______ Laser:| Rating: ****O Pretty good for the first section and definitely good to have against the next set of mini-bosses and against the final boss. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ***OO The Normal Missiles work as fine as the laser in the first section, but they can also be picked up a bit later and they are weaker against the last mini- boss, so I recommend the Laser over the Normal Missiles. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: ***OO Neat up to here, but terrible against the on-coming bosses so do yourself a favor and pick up the Laser before the checkpoint. O###############################--------------------------------------------O |Crab Alien# Difficulty: ****O # | |############################### | |Like in many other boss fights before, stay directly at the left end of the| |screen. Eventually the crab tries to ram you, but watching closely and | |reacting quickly will let you jump over it easily. Follow the enemy to the | |right and wait for the hatch to open, revealing a human face. This is the | |only vulnerable thing on this boss, so get close and hit it hard. While you| |do so, the crab launches some strange balls high into the air and even out | |of the screen, but they'll fall back down soon. Retreat to the left, dodge | |the balls and be prepared for an energy beam coming out of the boss's eyes.| |This beam moves diagonally down, so either you are far to the left and | |don't need to do anything about it or you have to jump over it. | |After doing this twice, the boss changes its pattern a bit. It digs down | |into the ground and back up in the centre of the arena. Then it jumps back | |a few feet and rushes to the left again to crush you, before revealing its | |face and resuming the shooting. Just stay on the left and act absolutely | |the same as before to dodge every attack and to damage the enemy. | |Alternatively you can jump onto the crab's claws when it digs up and hang | |onto the ceiling to evade the ram attack. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Snatch the Normal Missiles if you don't have either the homing counterpart or the Laser and jump to the right-most wall. Climb up to reach the last mini- boss of the game. O#############################----------------------------------------------O |Gargoyle# Difficulty: ****O # | |############################# | |Do you remember Ridley from Metroid? I guess he's on two payrolls... | |Anyway, in the first battle phase you do the same move over and over again.| |Stay up high, just beneath the upper end of the screen, shoot at the boss's| |head and after he has rammed the wall once, climb down. The enemy will ram | |the wall where you just were. Attack him again and retreat even lower to | |dodge another ram assault. Now move back up to dodge his attack, then again| |a bit higher. The tail swings around broadly sometimes, but fortunately it | |won't hit you if you don't stay too close to the enemy. Repeat this whole | |dodging and attacking (although you only get to hit the boss rarely unless | |you have the Laser, which goes through the protective tail) procedure a few| |times, until the gargoyle disappears. | |He doesn't disappear completely, though. Wait somewhere in the upper half | |of the screen for the enemy to reappear, then quickly climb down to get | |your head roughly at the same level as the boss's knees. He swirls his tail| |at you in about a second and you can only hit him before he does so you | |don't want to retreat too far or you don't get a chance to shoot at his | |head. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Climb up, ignore the Flamethrower, no matter what weapon you currently have, and take a deep breath, because you are about to face the final boss. Checkpoint Possible weapons up to here: The Laser and the Homing Missiles are the best weapons here, yet, the Machine Gun and the Normal Missiles aren't too bad either. ____________ Machine Gun:| Rating: ***OO The Machine Gun is an ok weapon here. ____________ Spread Shot:| Rating: **OOO The Spread Shot works pretty well on the final boss, but it prolongs the two mini-boss battles prior to the final battle. ________________ Homing Missiles:| Rating: ***** Great. ______ Laser:| Rating: ***** This time the Laser is on-par with the Homing Missiles. It can deplete all bosses' life bar quickly (especially the gargoyle's one) and there is no need for a high rate of fire. ________________ Normal Missiles:| Rating: ****O They are a bit weaker than the Laser here, since they cannot go through the gargoyle's tail. _____________ Flamethrower:| Rating: *OOOO The Flamethrower is abysmal again. While the first mini-boss only takes longer to fight with it, the other two battles become exponentially harder to beat. O##############################---------------------------------------------O |Big Alien# Difficulty: **OOO # | |############################## | |I divide the final battle into three parts, mainly because it consists of | |three rather different phases, but also because this great boss simply | |deserves it. ^^ | |You might wonder why the boss's first form only gets two stars in my | |difficulty rating. It's an easy call, actually. You can either make this | |definitely a hard battle or you can stick to my easy strategy and beat the | |master alien without much effort. Stay in the centre of the hall, below the| |giant head, and aim up to destroy one of the two eyes. Only one, though! | |This is important to know. Destroying both eyes results in the boss | |retreating sometimes and shooting bullets out of his hands and releasing | |alien embryos from his mouth. As long as he has at least one intact eye, he| |won't do this. Also absolutely do not destroy either one of his hands or | |you need to fight off an infinite amount of red aliens running across the | |floor. | |Just stay in the centre, destroy one eye and then hit the vulnerable red | |jewel on the boss's forehead. The only thing you need to worry about are | |the hands that reach out to kill you, but these can be evaded by lying | |down. It's as easy as that. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O O##############################---------------------------------------------O |The Brain# Difficulty: ***OO # | |############################## | |The brain's difficulty also depends vastly on what you attack. The boss | |floats motionless in the centre of the hall, with a ring of symbols | |encircling it. You have to shoot one of these symbols to move on, but don't| |hasten. The symbols spin around the boss in one of three different speeds, | |changing every few seconds. Wait for them to reach the lowest speed, then | |take aim via R and hit the desired symbol. Every symbol stands for another | |attack and movement pattern the brain will use for a while and some are a | |lot easier than others, so take your time, aim precisely and choose wisely.| |Note that the symbol ring cannot hurt you. | |_________ | |Eye ball:| This makes the brain float left and right, while lobbing a bunch| |of eye balls, which bounce on the floor. This attack pattern pretty much | |resembles the UFO in the third level. Stay below the brain, fire up and | |consider the eyes as your main target. The eyes can be destroyed rather | |quickly and they can even earn you a life or two, so this is a neat symbol,| |that you might want to consider to choose. Rating: ****O | |___________ | |Spiky ball:| Shooting this symbol probably is the best thing you can do. | |The boss floats left and right, throwing spiky balls alternately left and | |right and even a lot of weapon items. If you stay under the boss and keep | |in mind that the balls always come in a left-right-left-right pattern you | |can easily dodge every hazard and even pick up some nice weapons while | |constantly attacking the brain. Rating: ***** | |___________ | |Brain ball:| This one's probably the safest bet in this battle. The big | |brain spawns a protective belt of small brains and floats across the hall | |in an arc-shape. To damage him you have to destroy some of the small brains| |in order to reach the creamy centre. Unfortunately the brains respawn | |quickly, but on the other hand you are rather safe here, if you stay in the| |left corner and eventually lie down when the enemy comes too close. | |Rating: ***** | |_____________ | |Riffled ball:| This will encircle you in a ring of white balls that spin | |around quickly. They draw closer and closer over the time until they reach | |you (leading to the loss of a life, of course), so you better destroy them | |swiftly. It is possible to earn new lives with this attack pattern, but you| |can deal nearly no damage to the brain and given the circle sometimes | |starts off really close to you, you are likely to lose a life. | |Rating: *OOOO | |___________ | |Stone ball:| This one requires quite some precision and good timing, but it| |really isn't that hard and it allows for lots of damage for the boss. The | |brain lies down on the right side of the screen and sets off pairs of stone| |balls. These formations sort of roll to the left, trying to smash you. Stay| |far to the left, lock your aim straight to the right via L and await the | |first pair. Your only chance of dodging these is by jumping over them when | |the two balls build a column. Jump over them and move along with them back | |to the left end of the screen where you wait for the correct moment to | |dodge another pair and so on. Always keep shooting while doing this. | |Rating: ***OO | |______________ | |Blue bio ball:| The brain grows legs. Sounds stupid and it also is a stupid| |choice for you. The best thing to do is to stand in the left corner and | |jump up when the boss's left leg closes in. This way you don't get hurt, | |but on the other hand you can also deal close to no damage. Rating: **OOO | |_________________ | |Blue sphere ball:| The brain stays in the centre of the hall and drops | |three blue balls that bounce around similar to those balls found in the | |classic game Pang (if anybody remembers that), but sadly, they cannot be | |destroyed. You have to dodge them swiftly while running around, which | |leaves you nearly no time to launch a counter-attack. This attack pattern | |is more dangerous than the blue ball one, but it also gives you a better | |possibility to damage the boss, so that's why it deserves the same (bad) | |rating. Rating: **OOO | |_____________ | |Red bio ball:| Again, the brain stays in the centre of the hall, but here | |it creates a snake-like thing, crawling across the floor in an arc-shape. | |If you don't know where to stand you will likely lose a life, but luckily | |the snake always move the same: At the beginning, attack the brain and then| |lie down in the left corner. When the hazard has moved on, stand up, shoot | |again and position yourself a bit more to the right, where the snake will | |pass by above you. Attack a bit more and retreat to the left corner again, | |where you lie down one last time. When I fought the boss for the first few | |times, I though this attack pattern was really mean, but in fact, it is one| |of the best: It's safe and allows for lots of damage. Rating: ***** | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Grab the rocket. O#########################################----------------------------------O |The Very Last Battle# Difficulty: ***** # | |######################################### | |The brain isn't dead just yet. It puts on its nice metal suit and hunts you| |along an endless tunnel while you hang onto a rocket at the bottom of a | |helicopter. First of all, lock your aim down via L, then keep firing and | |jump up whenever the boss rushes up to ram you. This requires some decent | |reflexes, but the major problem is yet to come: After a while the boss | |ceases its ramming assault and instead he tries to hit you with its claws. | |There is no way to tell whether they strike straight up or to the other | |side of the rocket (at least as far as I am concerned). This means that you| |have to jump up whenever either claw is about to strike and hope that it | |won't hit you. After a few attacks the boss will return to its ramming | |strategy, though, and this form of the alien master doesn't stand a lot of | |damage, so hurry, dodge as good as you can and try to meet this third form | |of the boss with at least one life in reserve. | O---------------------------------------------------------------------------O Congratulations. ^_^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Weapons DDD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------ Machine Gun: ------------ Rapidity: 4/5 Power: 2/5 Total: 3/5 The Machine Gun is available whenever you die, so you might expect it to be the worst weapon in the game, yet it isn't. This gun fires really fast and while its power is far from the Laser e.g., it still gets the job done in most cases. ---------------- Spread Shot (S): ---------------- Rapidity: 3/5 Power: 2/5 Total: 2/5 The Spread Shot basically is a beginner's weapon, since it eases hitting a lot. As you gain experience in the game, you should ignore it most of the time, though, given its low rate of fire and its low power. -------------------- Homing Missiles (H): -------------------- Rapidity: 3/5 Power: 3/5 Total: 5/5 The Homing Missiles don't deserve their rating of 5 out of 5 for their speed or their power (although they aren't too bad either), but simply because they home in on any target all on their own. This makes nearly every battle a breeze, may it be against bosses or normal enemies. -------------------- Normal Missiles (C): -------------------- Rapidity: 2/5 Power: 4/5 Total: 3/5 The Normal Missiles are a bit slower than the Homing Missiles (only 3 missiles on-screen as opposed to 5) and a bit more powerful to make up for it, but since they lack the homing ability, these are way less effective than the H weapon. Nonetheless it is a decent weapon. ---------- Laser (L): ---------- Rapidity: 1/5 Power: 5/5 Total: 4/5 The Laser basically is a stronger and slower version of the Normal Missiles, but the power has been way more increased, than the speed has been increased, making this a better choice than the C. Another twist you better remember is that the Laser goes through barriers and enemies, meaning you can hurt anything behind it. On the other hand you cannot increase the rate of fire by standing close to a target, but only by being near the end of the screen. ----------------- Flamethrower (F): ----------------- Rapidity: 5/5 Power: 1/5 Total: 1/5 The Flamethrower is crap. Plain and simple. It is extremely fast, but that doesn't make up for its terrible weak fire power. An interesting thing, though, is that it allows for hits between two aiming directions, i.e. for example not only directly to your right, above you or diagonally up-right, but also between these positions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. FAQ EEE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Do you unlock anything by beating the game with an A rank? Does a warm feeling in your heart count? Besides that: Nope, nothing. - How about when you beat it without using even a single continue? Unfortunately, this doesn't unlock anything either. There isn't a single thing to be unlocked in Contra Advance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Closing Comments FFF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While not being as good as the original (yeah, I know I'm ranting about how the old days used to be better ^^) Contra Advance is still worth buying at a decent price. Some features are missing, the cool top-view levels have been removed in favor of two levels of the Genesis Contra and the password function should have been a relict of past days for a long time, but hey, it's Contra on the go. Pop in the cartridge, reawaken or (build up) your hardcore gaming skills and get those aliens while they're ugly. ^^ I'd appreciate any comments, questions, high scores, critics or whatsoever, so please mail me at [email protected] if you have anything to tell me (even misspellings and stuff). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. Experimental GGG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In some other guides I've seen the author implement the following and I thought "Why not give it a try for your own guides?": If you really like this guide and you think it helped you or entertained you a bit or whatsoever and you feel like rewarding me not only by writing a nice e-mail, feel free to send some money to my paypal account at: [email protected] Of course I don't want to make somebody send me money who doesn't really want to (even if I could, I wouldn't ;) ), but (also of course) I'd appreciate any contribution. Thank you very much for reading this guide and hopefully some more of my stuff on gamefaqs.
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