Radiant Silvergun FAQ v1.0 ========================== (Section 2) written by Alan KWAN Shiu Ho (mailto:tarot@netvigator.com) stage diagrams and stage 3A strategy by Jef Lepine (mailto:jlepine@bbnplanet.com) game system and enemy data information: special thanks Waka, maintainer of "Gamer's Heaven", http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~puni/index.html 0.0 Index ---------- 1.0 Game System 1.1 Weapon System 1.1.1 Weapon Types 1.1.2 Weapon Levels 1.2 Scoring System 1.2.1 Chain Bonus 1.2.2 Secret Bonus & Secret Chain 1.2.3 Boss Bonus 1.2.4 Merry Dog Bonus 1.2.5 Weapon Bonus 1.2.6 Scratch Points 2.0 Stage Strategy 2.3A Stage 3A 2.3B Stage 3B 2.3C Stage 3C 2.3D Stage 3D 2.3E Stage 3E 3.0 Story Summary 4.0 Version History This file contains only section 2. Sections 1 and 3 are in another file. 1.0 Game System ---------------- (see other file) 2.0 Stage Strategy ------------------- Here is a strategy guide for stage 3. It is intended for novice to intermediate players who are not experienced shooter players and have as much problem executing precise controls as myself. Following this guide, such players can get a reasonable amount of points (but not the most) out of stage 3 without too much difficulty, hopefully. The strategy here is only meant to be a suggestion; the player should feel free to develop his own strategy for higher scores or to suit his playing style. This is especially true for experienced players, since this guide is for novice to intermediate players. Many experts in Japan score over 4 million in stage 3 alone, some over 4.5 million. Following this strategy guide, you can consistently score over 3 million in stage 3, over 3.5 million if everything goes well. This will give you reasonably powered up weapons to put up a good fight in the following stages. The strategies are for normal difficulty. They may not always apply to easier difficulty levels because the enemy patterns may be different. If you cannot understand the description in any section (after learning the stage layout in the actual game), please send me e-mail and I will try to rewrite that part. I did look at several Japanese homepages (including Gamer's Heaven) before settling down on the strategies I'm using, so my strateies are influenced by them and are not original. Key: r = Small red enemies R = Large/medium red enemies b = Small blue enemies B = Large/medium blue enemies y = Small yellow enemies Y = Large/medium yellow enemies D = Merry the debug dog (hidden) A letter with a line attached to it denotes the approximate path of that enemy: r \ Means the small red enemy will move diagonally down to the right. Extra notes are put in this format (n) where n is a number. You should read the notes in order as they usually contain what order enemies appear in and other movements which cannot be accurately denoted in asci text. Sections marked "Critical Point" are tight spots where precise timing and manuever is required. Reference scores: World Record: by the shooter gods in Japan (from Shooting Game Laboratory score board; arcade version) Stage Par: good play by intermediate player (Saturn mode) Stage Bogey: compromising or flawed play by novice player (Saturn mode) 2.3A Stage 3A 2.3A.1 Stage 3A (Advance) This part is originally written by Jef Lepine. I have made several changes at places. The strategy is recommended for players who have played a few games. If you're reading this before playing your first game, you should just concentrate on staying alive in your first games, then play a few more games going for the red chain as you try to become familiar with the stage layout. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - - b - b - b - r - r - r - - b - b [g] - b - r - r - r - - AKA-O - - - R R - - R R - R - R R [f] - - R R - - - - r r - y b - y r (1) r b - y b [e] - y ___ r r ___ b - y | Y | | B | b - y |___| |___| b - - r r r ___ b b b - r r r | R | b b b [d] - r r r |___| b b b - - - - - y - y y [c] - y y - y / - \ - - b b - b b - b b [b] - \ / - \ / - - r - r r - r r - r / - \ / [a] - \ - - - D | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Level 3A starts here and progresses up. Theme: Practice basic and secret chains. 4-step secret chain, followed by 7-step red chain. (Alternatively, 12-step red chain.) 3x4+1 yellow enemies and 3x7+1 red ones (including the middle big red) after finishing the yellows. World Record: 370k + Stage Par: 300k Stage Bogey: 200k [a] Get the 10-point dog if you want. Shoot all the reds. Stop firing when all six are destroyed. [b] Shoot one of the blues. Tap A for a single shot, shouldn't be too hard to pick off one of them. [c] Shoot all yellow (secret bonus/secret chain start). [d] Stay all the way left when big red comes on screen. Alternatively, do some damage to big red with A or Sword (don't kill it), then go to the left. When you've become comfortable with this stage, try scratching against the laser for several k points. [e] Shoot small yellows and large yellow with A or C. Move to center of screen and shoot red with A, or shoot them with C from the corner. [f] Destroy everything. Use C and you will get Weapon 10,000 bonus. [g] Destroying AKA-O quick enough and up to two sets of rrrbbb will appear. Shoot all the reds and the second set of blues. 2.3A.2 Stage 3A (Boss) Boss name: AKA-O (read /Akamaru/) Killing it is no problem, but there is very little time for you to get the perfect bonus, especially if you want the small enemies after it too. When the boss first appears, for a short while, the main part is out of play and not vulnerable to damage. If you use the Hyper Sword then, you can destroy or damage the other parts without destroying the main part. Players have found different strategies, but the following works best for me. Come with a charged Hyper Sword. As the boss appears, shoot at the right parts with A. As soon as you start to do damage (you see the parts flash), use the Hyper Sword. Overlap yourself with the boss parts, moving from right to left, and retreating to a safe distance when the swing ends. Keep shooting at the left parts with A to destroy them, but avoid damaging the main part. The boss will shoot some shots, with which you charge the Hyper Sword again. Immediately use it again and overlap yourself with the right parts. If this doesn't destroy the boss, finish with A. 2.3B Stage 3B Whether you can nail the chains and the boss perfect in 3A or not, you should try for the million in stage 3B. The red chain is worth a lot of points without being too difficult, and the boss perfect is pretty easy to get, as long as you don't die. 2.3B.1 Stage 3B (Advance) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - - MIKA-L - - ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ - | Y | | B | | R | | R | | B | | Y | - |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| - - ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ - | Y | | B | | R | | R | | B | | Y | - |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| - - ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ [i] - | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | - |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| - - _____ _____ _____ _____ - | | | | | | Starts closed - <--- | | | | | | ---> Opens up - |_____|_____| |_____|_____| - - __ __ __ - |R | _______ |R | _______ |R | - |__| | | |__| | | |__| [h] - | | | | - ---> | | | | <---Starts open - |_______| |_______| Closes in - r r r r r r - _____ _____ _____ _____ - | | | b | | - | | | b | | [g] - |_____|_____| b_____|_____| - - __ - |R | - |__| - __ __ - |R | |R | - |__| |__| - - [f] - - ___ - | | - | R | - |___| - __ __ - |R | |R | - |__| |__| - - - - r_r_r r_r_r [e] - | | _ _ | | - | | | | _______ | | | | - |_____| | |/ \| | |_____| - |R| R |R| r r r r r (2) [d] - _____ | | | | _____ - | | | |\_______/| | r | | - | | |_| r r r r |_| | | - |_____| |_____| - (1) b b b b y y y - _____ b _____ - | | b r r | | - | | D | | [c] - |_____| b b b |_____| - r - _____ _____ - | r r | - | r r | [b] - |_____r r_____| - b b b r r r - r r r r r r - r r r _b_b_b_ r r r - r r r | | r r r [a] - | | - |_______| - r r r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Level 3B starts here and progresses up. Theme: Get the 25-step red chain. Add a 1-step secret chain at the end. There are 3x25+2 red enemies in this stage, so you can afford to leave out 2. The experts leave out 2 small ones near the beginning, but I leave out some near the end because I'm not that good. World Record: 1.2M + Stage Par: 1.0M Stage Bogey: 0.8M [a] Shoot all the reds. Use B or C to pick off enemies on both sides. Go to the right at the branch. [b] Shoot the right turrets and the moving reds with A, and the left turrets with C. Be careful of hitting blue things. [c] Critical Point #1. Sharp-shoot the reds (by tapping A), slip between the blues into the ring, and tab B+C (X) briefly to make the dog appear. Then quickly slip out again (to the front). [d] Destroy all 6 turrets attached to the big round red thing (O-LINDA) with C before destroying the big round thing. Also destroy the reds appearing from the right with C. [e] Destroy these turrets quickly with appropriate weapons. C followed by B works for me. [f] Destroy everything as soon as possible. Try to destroy the latter 3 as soon as they come out with C followed by A. [g] Just cease fire and walk through, early. If you're too slow with [f], your stray shots may be hitting the blue turrets. [h] Destroy everything. Use C on the turrets. The experts can destroy the medium enemies on both sides with C, but I leave one out just to be safe, since I can afford to miss 2 enemies in this stage. [i] Critical Point #2. Use A+B to destroy a few enemies before the wall opens. If you press A+B just as the walls behind you close, your lasers will lock on to the enemies to the sides (rather than the center ones), which may make it eaiser to complete the chain. After the wall opens, destroy all the reds with A, C, and/or A+B. (I usually miss one here, but it's not too big a deal.) After that, shoot ONE blue and 3 yellow for secret chain bonus. 2.3B.2 Stage 3B (Boss) Boss name: MIKA-L (read /Mikaeru/, or Michael) As the boss appears, keep shooting at either end part. You can destroy one or two side parts before the boss starts attacking. Quickly destroy all 4 side parts (using the Hyper Sword if necessary). After that, charge up the Hyper Sword for the next stage, then destroy the little pods installed on both sides of the main part. Finally, kill the main part. When only the main part is left, it is a good opportunity to get some weapon bonus with A+B. "Partial credits" for weapon bonus carries over to the next stage (except for A+C, which expires with time), and that for A+B is the easiest to preserve. Boss diagram: [4321234] 1: main part (multi-way yellow shots, main laser, missles) 2: common shot pods attached to main part 3: thick white laser turrets 4: star-shaped white shot turrets 2.3C Stage 3C This is /the/ hardest stage in stage 3 to get the chain. There are many critical points where you need to execute some precise movement with precise timing. If you find playing for the chain in this stage too frustrating, it is a good idea to give up and settle for a lower score here and try to make up for it by progressing further. The score difference is not that big, anyway (unlike for example stage 3B and stage 2B). Even the boss is harder to get perfect on than the other stages, although it is more managable than the chain. Here is the stage map. Note that the slopes are all at 22.5 degrees, but that's hard to reproduce with text graphics. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - GALLOP - - ___ - _______ | R | - | |___| - / / - / / / - / |R| / - / / - / / - |(ii) / - | | D - | r\ - | r\ - \ r\ - \r r\ [8] - \r r\ - \r r\ - \r | - \r | - \r | - \ | - | | - / | - /b / - /b / - /b / - /b / - /b / - /b / - / / - |r / - |r / - |r | [7] - \ \ - \b \ - \b \ - \b \ - \b \ - \b \ - \b \ - \ \ - | \ - / \ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - | r_r_r_r_r_r - D |B b| | | - | b| | | <---- - \ b|_____|_____| [6] - \ r r r r r r - \ - \ - \ - | - / / - / / - / y/ - / y/ - / b y/ - / b / - |r b / - |r r | [5] - |r r \ - \ r \ - \ y \ - \ y \ - \ y | - \ b | - \ b | - \ b | - D | | (i)| [4] - / | - /r / - /r / - /r / - /r / - /r / - /r / - | / - | | [3] - \ \ - \ r\ - \ r\ - \ r\ - \ r\ - \ r\ - \ r\ - \ \ - | \ - / \ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - ________ - / \ - | | - | | - \ R | - \ | - \ / - | | - r| |r [2] - | | - r| |r - | | - r| |r - | | - r| |r - __ \__/ __ - |R | |R | - |__| |__| [1] - - __ - |R | - |__| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Level 3C starts here and progresses up. Theme: 19-step red chain. This is undoutedly the most difficult stage in stage 3 to chain. Give up if you prefer. 3x19+2 red enemies in the stage. World Record: 1.0M + Stage Par: 800k Stage Bogey: 700k give up: 450k 2.3C.0 Stage 3C (Advance, Opening) Enter stage with fully charged Hyper Sword. [1] Use A (and B after you've moved) to quickly blow up middle Wing, then use C to blow up the two others. [2] Use Hyper Sword, then quickly run yourself over the 8 turrets to destroy them. If you destroy the battleship first, the turrets will be lost. If you've done this right, you'll see "Chain 4800" reported as you destroy the battleship. (The batleship itself is worth only 100 points, the same as each turret.) [3] Quickly wipe out all 12 turrets with A, C, and/or Sword. Stay near the top of the screen. [4] Quickly enter (i) position before formation arrives. 2.3C.1 Stage 3C (Advance, No Chain) [4] Shoot a blue and three yellows, and hold C. If you're lucky, you'll shoot the last blue just after a red turret, so you can continue into another 1-step secret chain. Also, get the dog. [5] Just blow up everything with C. [6] Keep left and shoot all the blues with C, and get the dog. Don't risk your life dueling the red turrets; they're not worth much. In fact, you get more points (from short blue chain) if you don't shoot the red turrets after shooting blue. After getting the dog, use A+B to destroy some of the blue turrets ahead. [7] Use C to destroy the rest of the turrets. Enter the corner with good timing. Destroy the second row of blue laser turrets with C, or just sail past with good timing. [8] Destroy all red turrets with A, C, and Sword. Get the high-score dog (over 100k). Hide in (ii) position as you destroy the big laser ship with C. Finally, destroy the missle ship coming from behind with A+C as you exit the tunnel. The boss fires 8 common shots before firing the "charged beam", so it's best to collect at least 2 shots from the red turrets with Sword. 2.3C.2 Stage 3C (Advance, Chain) [4] Dog is only low score (about 1k), so you don't have to get it if you're not confident. When red comes, tap C to shoot 2 and then tap A to shoot the third. [5] CRITICAL POINT #1: Slip past the blues. Then kill red turrets with A, C, and/or Sword. Then sail past the yellow turrets with good timing. [6] CRITICAL POINT #2: On the moving block are 3 laser turrets and 3 phaser (commont shot) turrets facing you. Use A or well-placed C to kill the laser turrets as soon as they appear (do not hit blue). Then kill the phaser turrets. I prefer to use A to shoot the laser turrets because C may hit blue if I'm not careful. The turrets will fire simultaneously when the 3rd one appears, so I shoot 1 or 2 up before that to make some room for myself. After dodging one round of laser fire, I use Sword to kill the rest of the turrets. The Sword is nice because it protects me from stray shots (including shots from the yellow turrets behind me). After dealing with the turrets facing you, use A+B to take out at least 4 of the red turrets on the other side. Then take a deep breath and dash through the gauntlet on the left with good timing, after the moving block starts retreating to the right. Don't hesitate or you'll get chomped on. You can get dog (medium value, about 10k) with B+C on the way, if you can manage that. (A single lock on spread will not destroy the blue enemies if you have not otherwise shot at them.) [7] CRITICAL POINT #3: To get the red chain, you must not shoot the blue turrets. Enter with good timing. Half way, fire a single shot of C, and make sure that you do not release the C button until the shot hits the red turrets on the left. Turn around the corner quickly, and you're almost done. [8] If you have come here without dying or killing any blue or yellow enemies, you don't need to be told what to do here. ^_^ 2.3C.3 Stage 3C (Boss) Boss name: GALLOP The Force in front and the two Bits on both sides are invincible: don't waste your firepower trying to destroy them. Because the Force blocks most frontal fire, the best weapons to effectively deal damage to this boss are the spread weapons, B+C and C. The reflecting laser units on lower right and lower left fires thick yellow reflecting lasers. If you don't destroy them soon, they'll become very threatening. Different players use different strategies, but I find this one the most reliable for myself. For beginners, knowing the initial safe spot makes a huge difference. During the warning message, stand in the exact center of the screen (in the center of the circle). When the boss appears, fire B+C (don't move). If your C level is 10 or above, B+C will lock on to all 6 (vulnerable) boss parts; if your C level is 5 to 9, the upper left anti-ground laser unit will be left out. (Remember that it takes more EXP to level up in the Saturn mode than the arcade mode.) The boss will fire the anti-air laser, then the reflecting lasers, and then the anti-ground lasers, but all will miss you if you don't move. After that, the boss will fire some common shots. Move just a bit to the side (not too much, or the boss will move to follow you) to evade the shots; charge your Hyper Sword if it's not charged already. The boss will then fire either version of its charged beam. If you did stage 3B right, the anti-air laser unit (in the lower center, just above the Force) and one or both of the anti-ground laser units to the rear should be destroyed by now, and the boss will fire the spread charged beam. The safe spots are to either side of the boss, and at the very bottom of the screen squarely in front of the boss. If you want to forget about perfect and just clear the stage, just swing the Hyper Sword and overlap yourself with the boss to destroy it when it fires the charged beam. To get perfect, retreat to the safe spot at the bottom center of the screen. After the charged beam, fire A+B (wriggle around a bit so that the lasers lock on to the reflecting laser units rather than the Force) to kill the reflecting laser units. The boss will fire reflecting lasers and spread shots, but the lasers will probably miss and your lasers will block the spread shots. Now, only the main part and perhaps the upper left anti-ground laser unit are left: just destroy them. (The easiest way to deal with the anti-ground laser unit is to swing the Hyper Sword and overlap.) Boss diagram: [ 4 4 ] [6 1 6] [ 323 ] [ 5 ] 1: main part (homing missles, common shots, spread shots, green homing lasers, anti-ground missles) 2: anti-air laser unit (8-shaped red laser) 3: reflecting laser units (thick yellow laser) 4: anti-ground laser units (large flame pillars on walls) 5: (invincible) Force (common shots when deteched) 6: (invincible) Bits (short red beams) 2.3D Stage 3D 2.3D.1 Stage 3D (Advance) Here, the 8GANE (/hagane/, Japanese for "steel") makes its first appearance. It appears in its armor, then sheds the armor, fires a single common shot and turns. It is completely invincible until it sheds its armor. Each is worth 30 points. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - - UNDO - D [8] - - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r [7] - y y - y y - y y - y y [6] - y y - y y - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b [5] - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r - r r [4] - r r - r r - r r - y y - y y - y y - y y [3] - y y - y y - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b - b b [2] - b b - b b - b b - b b - r r - r r - r r - r r [1] - r r - r r - | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Level 3D starts here and progresses up. Theme: 8-step secret chain. 3x8 yellow enemies. World Record: 700k + Stage Par : 650k Stage Bogey : 500k At first glance, it seems that there are a lot of enemies and shots everywhere, but actually the enemy pattern is not that complex. It is just an illusion created by the factor that you can't destroy the enemies before they shed their armor. Don't panic, and get the secret chain. Many experts don't use the Hyper Sword at point [3]. I do because I'm not an expert, and I find it easier that way. [1] During stage 3C "REPORT", go and stand squarely between P and O. Stick out Radiant Sword so that the tip of the sword almost touches the top of the screen. Hold it there and retreat bit by bit as reds crash into the sword. Hyper Sword will be charged. [2] Sheathe sword and move to either side. Sharp-shoot exactly one blue. Return to center with good timing for the yellows. Try to shoot the blue at either side rather than at the center, because even a single shot may hit two blues when they overlap. [3] Critical Point. Shoot at first pair of yellows with A, and immediately swing Hyper Sword and move up. If the timing and positioning is right, it will destroy all or most of the yellows and expire before the next reds drop their armor. If the debris hits the reds, try moving up a bit next time. Use the Radiant Sword to destroy the last pair of yellows if necessary. Pull back to bottom of screen. [4] Move to either side, using Sword to defend if you must, but don't hit the reds. [5] Charge Hyper Sword and move to center. [6] Shoot at first pair of yellow with A, and swing Hyper Sword before you get hit. Move up as sword is swinging. [7] Shoot A+C to destroy all remaining enemies. [8] Get dog near center of screen shortly before boss appears. Note: if you accidentally hit some reds in [3], recover by setting up for another 4-step secret chain. You can still get 500k with 4-step chains twice. 2.3D.2 Stage 3D (Boss) Boss name: UNDO While this boss is initially appalling, it is actually not difficult once you've become familiar with its attacks, especially if you have been following this guide and got the points and weapon levels that you should get. The boss alternates between firing its turrets and firing its big main laser. When it is firing its turrets, hide behind a pillar and damage the boss with A+B. When it is firing its main laser, either dodge behind a pillar when the laser sweeps past you, or rotate (move in a circle) along with the boss while you keep attacking with B+C. The boss will be making several full rotations the third time it fires the laser. You may concentrate on destroying the bottom left turret before that in order to make more room for yourself, if you need to. (Notice that there is no "collision detection" with the boss chassis other than the boss parts; it is safe to overlap your ship with the chassis once you have destroyed the turret sitting there.) To go for perfect, you should not do too much damage to the main part before you destroy the other parts. However, when you destroy all 4 turrets, the boss will go berserk and fire the main laser without pause while turning towards you. If you stay directly behind the boss, you can lure it so that it never catches you. Also save a charged Hyper Sword just in case. When you can get perfect comfortably, you may try for more weapon bonus by using primarily B+C and reducing the use of other weapons (until you have destroyed all but the main part). Boss diagram: [4 4] [313] [2 2] 1: main part (main laser, multi-way lasers) 2: common shot turrets 3: laser turrets 4: ears (no attack) 2.3E Stage 3E The valuable red chain is rather tricky to get: there are two battleships with turrets, and many red enemies appear mixed with enemies of other colors in threatening patterns. But the rewards are handsome. The risk-gain ratio is better than that in stage 3C. 2.3E.1 Stage 3E (Advance) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - - D - UE2A-GAL [9] - - Y Y - Y Y - Y Y - Y Y - Y b b Y - Y b b Y - \ b b / - r b b r [8] - r b b r - r B B r - r \ / r - r r - R R - \ / - _____ _____ - | | | | - | R |_____ _____| R | - |_____| |______| |_____| [7] - | B | | B | - |_____| R |_____| - |______| - ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ - | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | | R | [6] - |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| |___| - ____ ____ - | |________| | - | B | | B | - |____| R |____| [5] - | | - |________| - - ________ ________ - | | | | - | | | | [4] - | R / \ R | - | / ___ ___ ___ \ | - | | | Y | | R | | B | | | - r| |r |___| |___| |___| r| |r - | | ___ ___ ___ | | [3] - r| |r | B | | R | | Y | r| |r - | | |___| |___| |___| | | - r| |r ___ ___ ___ r| |r - | | | R | | R | | R | | | [2] - r| |r |___| |___| |___| r| |r - | | | | - \__/ \__/ - - b r - b r - b r - y y y - - y b - y b [1] - y b - r r r - - r y - r y - r y - b b b | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Level 3E starts here and progresses up. Theme: 18-step red chain. Juicy because of many valuable big and medium enemies in the chain. There are exactly 3x18 red enemies, so missing any one is costly. A difficult 4-step secret chain (on 3x4 medium yellow enemies) at the end too. World Record: 1.2M + Stage Par: 1.0M Stage Bogey: 850k [1] Start the stage on the left. Shoot only the 3 sets of red enemies, with A. [2] When the battleships are on the screen, always keep shooting C to take out the turrets and damage the battleships unless you're doing something else. When red medium enemies appear, destroy them quickly with A or C and resume shooting at the battleships. The safest way of clearing the battleship area while keeping the red chain going is to destroy all the inside turrets as soon as possible, so that you don't get fired on. Some players may prefer to try to charge the Hyper Sword, but I find that quite risky. Also, the Hyper Sword is not very reliable if you want to take out all the turrets on the battleships before the battleships themselves. [3] Critical Point. Shoot the center red and dodge the lasers fired by the blue and yellow. Repeat for the next wave. [4] Take aim at any remaining turrets and destroy them with C. Then rapid-fire C to destroy the battleships. If you destroy a battleship before destroying all turrets on it, you don't get the full chain. [5] Stand squarely in the center and destroy big red with A, C and/or A+B. Skillfully dodge the lasers from the blues by moving up and down along the center. If you've got every red enemy up to this point, you'll see "Chain 28820" reported as you destroy the big red. [6] Stay in the center and take out the 6 reds with C. You'll get weapon bonus. [7] Stand squarely in the center and destroy center red with A, C and/or A+B. Then shoot well-aimed C (staying in the center) so that you hit the reds on both sides without hitting the blues. Be careful; the reds fire missles which may hit you if you don't block them well with C. [8] Use C to destroy all 12 reds. Some experts can get the 4-step secret chain by killing a blue and then slipping up between the blues and using the Hyper Sword on the medium yellows from above. But mind you, that is not easy; I myself have yet to get that. [9] In Saturn mode, there is a dog at Guy's ship. 2.3E.2 Stage 3E (Boss) Boss name: UE2A-GAL (read /ueni agaru/, Japanese pun for "climb up") The final boss for stage 3 initially consists of 5 parts, but as each part is destroyed, it is replaced by a 'better' part. It is quite easy to just destroy the boss by concentrating on the center part. The key to getting perfect is to destroy the parts in the right order. If you destroy the wrong parts, combination attacks from the replacement parts may be very threatening. The basic idea is to destroy the parts 'from outside to in'. The center part has two steps. The initial step fires lots of common shots. Its replacement fires a thick red laser, and occasionally common shots. When going for perfect, it is crucial to keep the initial part in play, so that you can use the Hyper Sword frequently against the end parts. The two end parts initially do not attack at all. The right part is invincible, but if you shoot the left part, both parts will collapse. They will be replaced by homing laser units (firing thick white lasers which turn 90 degrees towards you), and after that long arms which fire horizontal yellow lasers. Both of these laser attacks are very threatening, so you should try to use the Hyper Sword (overlap yourself with the part) to destroy the end parts as quickly as possible. The remaining parts (between the main part and each end part) initially are short arms firing thin red lasers. When these are destroyed, they are replaced by turrets which fire 3-way common shots. Their final steps are turrets which fire non-lethal black-hole spread shots. Once you have reduced the boss to the center part alone (and perhaps the spread shot turrets), it may be a good time to start getting weapon bonus with A+B by hitting repeatedly in short bursts. The experts also get scratch points agaist the big red laser. Boss diagram: [32123] 1: common shots -> main part (thick red laser) 2: short arms (thin red laser) -> 3-way common shots -> black-hole spread 3: (no attack) -> white homing laser -> long arms (horizontal yellow laser) 3.0 Story Summary ------------------ (see other file) 4.0 Version History -------------------- v0.0 6 Nov 98 sections 1 and 3 only v1.0 26 Nov 98 section 2 (stage 3) completed