-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ____ ____ | `, | `, | _ | | _ | `|| || ___ ____ ____ ___ `|| || ____ ____ __ TM ||_||| | | || || `, ||_||| | | | / ` | | _< | _| | __ || __ || _ | | _< | _ | | __ || ___| || ||`|| _ || |||| || || || || || ||_|| || ||\ |__ _||_||_||_| |||__||||__|| ||_|| _||_|| ||\\_ ||__||__--.`, | || || || || | | || | || || `-' | _ |____,|_____||____||____||____; |____;|__|__||____||_.___;|_| FAQ v1.0 BdR 2001 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1 - THE GAME 2 - THE CONTROLS 3 - THE BONUSSES 4 - THE TINCAN 5 - GENERAL HINTS AND TACTICS 6 - LEVEL INFORMATION SUMMARY 7 - TACTICS PER STAGE 8 - HOW TO CHEAT 9 - ABOUT THIS FAQ ________________________________________________________________________________ 1 - THE GAME If you got this FAQ you probably also know the game, but okay.. a short game-info section. Blood Bros by Tad Corporation was released in 1990. The game is sort of a sequal to Cabal which was also done by Tad Corp. Cabal has a military theme whereas Blood Bros had a Western theme. The PCB manufacturing was done by Tecmo, although i'm not sure. It reads TECMO on front page of the Service Manual, so Tecmo is involved somehow. Some technical information taken from MAME (www.mame.net): CPU: 68000 @ 10MHz Z80 @ ~3,58 MHz (sound) Sound: YM-3812 @ ~3.58 MHz OK-6295 @ 8 MHz Screen: 256 * 224 pixels (V*H) 60 Hz There are some, not much, other arcade games with similar game-play to Blood Bros: Cabal (1988) by Tad (Fabtek license) Nam 1975 (1990) by SNK Spinal Breakers (1990) by Video System Co. Alligator Hunt (1994) by Gaelco ..maybe some other games I don't know about Some games try to copy the gameplay, for example "Rambo III" and "G.I.Joe", but in these games the hero can't move independantly from the crosshair. This makes for different gameplay, because it's harder to dodge bullets and shoot targets at the same time. ________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - THE CONTROLS Joystick - move the crosshair \ move hero (left and right only) Button 1 - shoot, hold this button down (or rapidly tap it) to move the crosshair while keeping the hero stationary Button 2 - jump, hold joystick down-left or down-right while pressing to roll. Button 3 - throw dynamite ________________________________________________________________________________ 3 - THE BONUSSES Points - Shooting buildings, big enemies, such as planes and blimps, and the tincan will result in point-bonusses falling down. You can get 1000, 2000, 5000, 7000, 10000 and 20000 points bonusses. Dynamite - Shooting the orange hog, inocent people or the tincan you will get you dynamite bonusses. Shotgun - Shooting the grey hog and in some cases the tincan gives you shotgun bonusses. If you pick up several shotguns I think you keep it a bit longer, but I never timed it so I'm not sure. The shotgun is the most powerfull weapon but it's slower (shooting frequency) than the machinegun. This can be overcome by rapidly tapping the shoot button, instead of just holding it down. Machinegun - Shooting the pink hog or the little indian, and in some cases the tincan, gives you machinegun bonusses. If you pick up several machineguns I think you get to keep it a bit longer, but I never timed it so I'm not sure. The machinegun is the fastest shooting weapon but it's a bit weaker than the shotgun. 1-up - Shooting the tin-can 8 consecutive times on the first try on level 1-1 or 4-1 will give you a 1-up bonus. Also if you die, the game encourages you to insert another coin by spawning a 1-up bonus, usually along with a machinegun bonus. In 2-player-mode the other player could also pick up (steal) these bonusses. ________________________________________________________________________________ 4 - THE TINCAN The tin can is an important element of the game. If you shoot it 8 consecutive times without it falling back on the floor, and you get a special bonus. Shoot the can to make it fly up in the air, then keep shooting it while it is in mid-air. The first 3 hits in mid-air award you with 1000-points bonusses, the next 3 shots get you dynamite bonusses and if you can hit it after that while it's still in the air you are rewarded a special bonus. If you shoot the tin-can like this without it falling back to the floor right on the first try in a certain level, you are rewarded a special bonus. See the table in section 6 (LEVEL INFORMATION SUMMARY) in column TINCAN to see what those special bonusses are. For example on stage 1-1, if you shoot the tincan 8 consecutive times on the first try you get a 1-up bonus, after that you will get 10000 points bonusses. ________________________________________________________________________________ 5 - GENERAL HINTS AND TACTICS You can't die WHILE you jump or roll, this means that you can jump through bullets and explosions. This comes in handy when you get to stage 2-4 with the blimp. You don't have to shoot the bomb that are thrown at you. When it throws bombs from right to left just jump to the right through the explosions (and vise versa). You can shoot bullets, although this can be difficult sometimes it comes in very handy. Shooting bombs that are thrown at you gives you dynamite bonusses. You can hold a maximum of 99 dynamites. If you have 99 dynamites and you pick up a dynamite bonus nothing happens, you still have 99 dynamites. So if this happens just throw a dynamite anywhere (it's bound to hit something) and then pick up the dynamite bonus. This way it won't go to waste. Right at the beginning on the last screen on every stage, there is a little indian that runs across the screen from right to left. Shoot it to get the machinegun. If you get a machinegun you can take full advantage of the tincan. Just shoot it while moving the crosshair up and you'll easily get the special bonusses. For example, you can get the machinegun on stage 1-4 from the little indian at the beginning, after that you can get lots of 10000 points bonusses from the tincan. Remember to pick up all the bonusses before shooting the tincan again, because somehow bonusses won't appear when there are already too much bonusses onscreen. The easiest way to get bonusses from the tin can without the use of the machinegun is as follows. Hold down the shoot button and move the crosshair up slowly (repeatedly tap the joystick a bit up). When you've hit the tincan about 4 or 5 times this way, it's at the top of the screen. If it goes up and out of the screen, it will fall back, but you don't know if it will appear to the left or right of the crosshair. So before it goes out of the screen, let it fall down a bit and then hit it again. Another good way, is to rapidly tap shoot, and then tap joystick up. By shooting this quickly, you can hit it 8 times before it reaches the top of the screen. Dynamite is not very effective on end-of-stage bosses. So unless you are on you last life or desparate, it's a waste of dynamite. However, it is wise to throw all your dynamite at the final boss because any extra help on the final boss is no luxury, and besides it is at the end of the game, there are no extra levels after that. After you defeated the last screen of a stage, an end-of-stage-boss will appear. If you are playing in 1-player mode you must defeat it in one go. For example, say you almost defeated the boss, its life-meter is almost empty. If you die at that point and are out of lives, you can continue the game by inserting another coin. However, the life-meter of the boss will fully fill up and you'll have to start killing the boss all over again. This problem does not occur when playing with 2 players, unless you both loose your last life at about the same time (doesn't matter if it's not EXACTLY the same time). ________________________________________________________________________________ 6 - LEVEL INFORMATION SUMMARY Here is a summary of the level features. The column TINCAN displays the bonusses you get for shooting the tincan 8 consecutive times on the first try and for the next tries. Gun1 means shotgun and gun2 means machinegun. BONUSSES shows what bonusses can be earned by shooting hogs or inocent people. THINGS-TO-DESTROY shows what background elements can be destroyed. If it reads (no points) it means that something can be destroyed but you get no points for it, for example the tipi's on stage 2-3 or the four boulders on stage 3-3. +-----+---------+-------------+------------------------------------------------+ |STAGE|TINCAN |BONUSSES |THINGS TO DESTROY | +-----+---------+-------------+------------------------------------------------+ |1-1 |1-up 10k |gun1 dynamite|2 buildings front, 3 buildings back, 3 barrels | |1-2 |gun1 10k |gun1 |2 buildings, windmill | |1-3 | --- |gun1 dynamite|2 bridges, 2 mountains | |1-4 |gun2 10k |gun1 dynamite| -nothing- | +-----+---------+------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |2-1 |gun1 10k |gun2 dynamite|2 walls, stalactite, rock | |2-2 |20k 10k |gun1 |2 grey mountaints left/right, 3 brown mountains | |2-3 | --- |gun1 |2 mountains, 'rockbridge', tipi's (no points) | |2-4 |gun2 gun1|gun1 |2 buildings, water trough | +-----+---------+-------------+------------------------------------------------+ |3-1 |gun1 10k |gun2 dynamite|Wall,cabinet, 6 barrels,6?bottles, 3 chandeliers| |3-2 |gun1 gun2|gun2 dynamite|2 buildings (left and top-right), 2 barrels, box| |3-3 |20k gun1|gun2 dynamite|Train (in 3 parts), 4 boulders (no points) | |3-4 |gun1 10k |gun2 dynamite|Covered wagon, 4 cactus (no points) | +-----+---------+------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |4-1 |1-up gun2|gun2 dynamite|2 buildings, 3 fences, 3 catus (no points) | |4-2 |20k gun2| |Treetops, 2 fences | |4-3 |20k gun2|gun2 |2 machines, 2 overhead pipes, 2 groundpipes | |4-4 |20k gun1|gun1 dynamite|stalactites | +-----+---------+------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |5-1 |gun2 10k |gun1 |2 buildings, 3 barrels, 4 buildings wayback | |5-2 |gun2 10k |gun1 |Front building, 3 slingshots | |5-3 |gun2 10k |gun2 dynamite|Ground, 2 stalactites, mining wagon | |5-4 |gun1 10k |gun2 dynamite|7 slingshots | +-----+---------+-------------+------------------------------------------------+ ________________________________________________________________________________ 7 - TACTICS PER STAGE __[ STAGE 1-1 ]_________________________________________________________________ If you're any good at this game you must get the 1-up from the tin-can right at the beginning. For the rest this level speaks for itself, you could try to get many 10,000 bonusses from from the tin-can. If you shoot the 2 big building in time (right at the beginning) a man-on-toilet (left building) and a kissing man and women appear (right building) will appear. Shoot them for dynamite and 1000-points bonusses. Shoot one building and then, when it almost completely gone, shoot the other building. This way the man-on-toilet and kissing-man-woman won't appear at the same time and you can take full advantage of both for bonusses. __[ STAGE 1-2 ]_________________________________________________________________ Also a real breazer. You can stockpile dynamite by shooting the bombs that are thrown at you. If you destroy the 2 buildings in time a bathing woman (left building) and an guitar playing indian (left building) will appear. Shoot them to get 1000-points and shotgun bonusses. Just like on stage 1-1, time the moment that you shoot these 2 building to get as much bonusses. You can also cheat on this screen (see section 1.6 of this FAQ). Get the shotgun from the grey hog and notice how easily you can shoot bigger enemies, like planes and blimps, it only takes 1 shot. __[ STAGE 1-3 ]_________________________________________________________________ You can shoot the 2 mountains on the left and right hand side using a shotgun or by throwing dynamite. Best is to wait for the grey hog to appear at the left hand side of the screen. Carefull though, at the same time a big indian will appear at the right hand side. Shoot the grey hog to get the shotgun and use it to shoot the mountain tops, it'll save you on dynamite. Start at the top and shoot/bomb your way down. The mountain on the lefthand side is a bit weird, after you shoot the top off, you have to shoot the little part sticking out to the right before you can destroy the rest of the mountain.. __[ STAGE 1-4 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to shoot the indian at the beginning of the level to get the machinegun, after that try to get as many 10,000 points from the tincan. At certain moments lots of enemies appear at once, creating a hazardous rain of bullets. Avoid this by making sure you shoot or throw dynamite at them in time before they crowd the screen. __[ THE TRAIN ]_________________________________________________________________ The first boss is easy. First shoot the train as it moves down the screen. Then as it gets closer shoot for the cannons or throw dynamite at them, preferably in between two cannons to take out 2 at once. Finally when it comes out front, just keep shooting the cowboys that pop-up, don't waste any dynamite on the boss (see section 5). __[ STAGE 2-1 ]_________________________________________________________________ This is the stage to get big points, you can get about 250,000 points on this stage. Wait for the first pink hog and get the machinegun, then concentrate on the tin-can and get as many 10000-points bonusses as possible. Don't aim for the enemies, except maybe the biggun-man. This way, the stage will last longer so you can squize as many 10000-points bonusses from the tin can. __[ STAGE 2-2 ]_________________________________________________________________ The 2 big mountains in the front, left and right, can be destroyed (only the top) by starting at the top with a big gun or throwing dynamites and then moving on down. The indians can really sneak up on you on this level because they can pop up from the left or right and then shoot from close range, making it hard to dodge. __[ STAGE 2-3 ]_________________________________________________________________ There's no tin-can on this level. Try to shoot the fish for a few shotgun bonusses. The tipi's in the back can be destroyed but you don't get any points for them. You can get a few 1000-points bonusses from the shipwrecks, if you're going for the hi-score. __[ STAGE 2-4 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to shoot the indian at the beginning of the level. You can get a shotgun from the tin-can, try to get it at the end of the level so you can easily defeat the blimp. Look out for cetrain moments, when a lot of cowboys appear who all shoot at once. The nearest buildings can be shot up but you won't get any points. __[ THE BLIMP ]_________________________________________________________________ If you didn't get the shotgun, just shoot the blimp and jump though the dynamites that are thrown at you, again don't waste dynamites on this (or any) stage boss. You can stockpile dynamites by not shooting the blimp and only shooting the tanks and their bombs. You can throw a dynamite at them and get 2 or more back if the tanks are close to each other. If you got the shotgun you can take out the blimp within about 10 seconds. Right at the start, aim the crosshair on the middle top of the screen and start shooting because you can damage the blimp even before it appears on screen. __[ STAGE 3-1 ]_________________________________________________________________ The guys in the barrels are a real pain in the ass. Although you can get the machinegun on this level, it's not a good idea to go for 10000-points bonusses. If you concentrate on the tincan and not on the enemies they'll quickly fill up the screen with bullets and bombs. __[ STAGE 3-2 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to get the first special bonus from the tincan which is the shotgun. With the shotgun you can easily take out the 3 blue soldiers. For the rest, this is relatively easy level because once you get the machinegun, you can re-supply yourself with it by shooting the tin-can. Just shoot some bad guys, then from time to time shoot the tincan again before you loose the machinegun. At the end, only if you've destroyed the building on the lefthand side of the screen, a guy with a gunnysack on his back appears. He runs from the righthand side into the ruins of the building. As far as I know you can't shoot it or anywthing, it's just some interlude. __[ STAGE 3-3 ]_________________________________________________________________ Don't underastimate this level just because there mostly are footsoldiers, it's still difficult. Enemies can pop up from left and right side and then shoot you from close range, so keep away from there. Also it can get very crowded at cetain moments, just thow dynamites and watch em fly >:) This is also a good level to stockpile dynamite, just keep shooting the bombs that are thrown at you. __[ STAGE 3-4 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to shoot the indian at the beginning of the level. every now and then, a covered wagon appears which sits in the middel of the screen and shoots cannonbals. You can easily bomb it before it starts shooting. __[ 3 PHOENIXES ]_______________________________________________________________ If you concentrate on the main bird, it'll start throwing eggs while the helper birds are still there. Three birds plus all those little birds is just too much. Therefor you should first go for the 2 helper birds untill they're dead (exploding birds? what's with that.. :) Near the end of the stage, the main bird will start throwing eggs. Try to shoot the eggs before they hit the ground. If the eggs land on the ground, they'll hatch spawning little fire throwing birds. Try to avoid this because then it's hard to avoid all these little fires. __[ STAGE 4-1 ]_________________________________________________________________ Get the 1-up from the tin-can, don't shoot it right at the beginning, but wait for the first wave of enemies to attack. After that, shoot the can half way up the screen (about 4 or 5 times) then let it fall a bit down and shoot it again before it hits the ground again to get the 1-up. __[ STAGE 4-2 ]_________________________________________________________________ There are lots of 'footsoldiers' here. That sounds easy but they appear in dozens at a time. And just like on stage 2-2 they can pop up right in front of you from the left or right and then shoot from close range. So be prepared to quickly jump or roll to dogde. __[ STAGE 4-3 ]_________________________________________________________________ Also a very crowded level, on certain moments many enemies pop-up all at once. You can easily get the machinegun to mow em down, and also you should time your jumps to avoid bullets. __[ STAGE 4-4 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to shoot the indian at the beginning of the level. Watch the water turn red with blood towards the end >:) __[ THE COBRA ]_________________________________________________________________ This is a difficult one. If you can, try to get the shotgun so you can quickly end this stage. Just like with the bird shoot the fire balls and poison gas bubbles before they reach you. Only shoot the ones that are actually dangerous, don't waste time shooting fire balls or bubbles that are way across the screen from you. At first, position yourself to the lefthand side of the screen, because the cobra enters from the right. Try not to jump or roll because fire and poison gas is falling down constantly. __[ STAGE 5-1 ]_________________________________________________________________ The grey hog with shotgun bonusses appears from behind the fountain in the middle quite often. Shoot it because a big gun is no luxury on this level. Watch out for the green-ninja lady (or whatever) who crawls up the flag pole from time to time. She (or he?) throws a boomerang that sweeps from the left side all the way across to the right. You could dodge it by jumping to the left when it passes by, but it is easier to take her out before she trhows it. Use dynamites because it's hard to shoot her down in time (unless you have a shotgun). __[ STAGE 5-2 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to get the machinegun from the tincan at the beginning of the level (this is pretty difficult). A lot of airplanes appear on this level. After you shoot the front building, emediatly take out the three slingshots. Watch for the nice thunder effects in the background ;) __[ STAGE 5-3 ]_________________________________________________________________ If you've destroyed the floor of the cave, beware of the group of cowboys that can appear from it. They jump up from the hole in the ground and spray bullets all over the place. Make sure you take out enough of them before they get a chance to shoot. The mining wagon that rolls into the screen from the left gives you a machinegun when you shoot it. __[ STAGE 5-4 ]_________________________________________________________________ Try to shoot the indian at the beginning of the level. Take out the 7 slingshots as quickly as possible, because they constantly throw bombs at your. You can do this with the machine gun but a quicker (and thus better) way is to just throw dynamites. There are no defenses on this level, it's one wide-open area. Enemies can pop up right in front of you from the left or right and shoot from close range, so try to keep away from the far right and left. Time your jump and rolls carefully because it will rain bullets and bombs on this final level. You could accidentally jump into bullets or bombexplosions. __[ BIG BAD JOHN ]______________________________________________________________ Big Bad John can be intimidating, but just keep jumping to avoid the cannonballs, and keep shooting and throwing dynamites at him and you'll defeat him.. ________________________________________________________________________________ 8 - HOW TO CHEAT Here is a cheat with which you can get infinite points, and subsequently a lot of lives. It was copied from "The definitive arcade video game cheat sheet" which was last updated on april 28, 1992. Get to the second screen (preferably without dying on the first screen). Shoot the building on the right hand side of the screen and start shooting the trees in the background on the right. 20,000 points fly out from each bunch of trees. Just keep shooting the trees and keep collecting the 20,000 points. That is basically it. A few problems occur and here is how to counter them: a) 5 men run across the back from the left and throw grenades.. just shoot the grenades before they get to you eventually they come out less often, and will stop altogether b) the men on the right come out from the edge to shoot you same as above.. they stop eventually c) a plane flies over and drops bombs. Same as a). It stops after some time. d) After a certain amount of time a bird comes out to kill you; let it. Only 2 birds ever come out (sometimes only 1) and then they also stop coming. This is why it pays not to die on the first screen. Another hint. on the first screen, the tin can be shot many times ( immediately ) to give you a free man. If you miss it then don't bother trying again, you only get one chance. Also the game can be set to give free men every xx000 points, if it is you are lucky and will continue to get plenty of men. The "Another hint" bit about the free man (1-up bonus) also applies to stage 4-1. ________________________________________________________________________________ 9 - ABOUT THIS FAQ I always liked this game in the arcades and I thought it was too bad that there wasn't any home conversion (only Wild Guns, which is also a pretty cool game, came close). So recently, I bought the original Blood Bros arcade PCB :) After looking for some documentation I noticed that there was no FAQ describing the best gameplay tactics and hints so I decided to write it down myself. I think I got all the info here (it's a relatively simple game) so there probably won't be any updates. ________________________________________________________________________________ Bas de Reuver, september 2001