IIIIIIIII\ IIIIIIIIII\ III II III II III II III II III II III II III II III II III II III // IIIIIIIII/ III IIIIIIIII III III \\ III /IIIIII\ III \\ II IIIIIII III II II //\\ \\ II II // III II II III I\\ II III III II II // \\ I\\ II II // III II II III II\\ II III III II II II II II\\ II II// III II II III II \\ II III III II II IIIIII II \\ II II\\ III II II III II \\II III III II II II II II \\II II \\ III \IIIIII/ III II \II III IIIIIIIIII/ IIIIII II II II \II II \\ IIII IIII I I I I IIII III I I I |/ I OINT IIII LAN|\. Arcade Shoot'em Up by Namco. Point Blank FAQ version 0.75 by Happy Murderer. Best viewed in 800x600 resolution ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 1) Rules 2) Getting Started with Point Blank 3) Training Mode 4) Beginner Mode 5) Advanced Mode 6) Very Hard Mode 7) Bonus Round 8) Stage Score Factors 9) Tips for some of the harder stages 10) Extra points for some of the stages 11) The Last Stage 12) Credit 13) Contact Info Always one of my favorite arcade shooters, I was surprised to see that the re was no Arcade FAQ for Point Blank so I thought I might as well make one myself. Point blank is an arcade game where you get a namco light gun and you pro ceed to take a number of skill tests to see if you can advance to the final stage. The amount of stages you will have to go through will depend on what difficulty sett ing you choose from the start of the game. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ RULES __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ At the beginning of the game you will have either three or five lives, depending on what the operator of that particular machine has decided. If you lose all your lives it is game over. You will lose a life if you: Fail a stage Shoot a bomb Shoot a hostage If you shoot a target of the opposite colour to your gun. If you let Dr Dan or Dr Don die in any stage. Also if you shoot more than one hostage target, or more than one of the opposite coloured targets, you will lose lives corresponding with how many incorrect targets you have shot. eg. You shoot three hostages, then you will lose three lives. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED WITH POINT BLANK __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ After you put your money in, you press either the pink or blue Start button depending on which coloured gun you want to use. Then you will be presented with four options. Training, Beginner, Advanced and Very Hard. To select which mode to play shoot the icon. _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ TRAINING MODE _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ In training mode you will only receive four incredibly easy and short (around 30 seconds each) stages to complete. In my opinion this is a complete waste of money, and if you are coherent enough to read this, then there will be almost no reason to justify wasting your money on this mode which is strictly for first timers and young children. _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ BEGINNER MODE _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ If you are an amatuer, beginner mode is definitely your best bet. It contains 16 relatively easy stages that are given to you in lots of four at a time. There will be four stages on the screen at a time and you can select which one you want to do by shooting it with the gun. Of the four stages to select, there will be one "Very Hard" stage. A very hard stage is distinguishable by the "Very Hard" written across the stage. A "Very Hard" stage is substantially harder than the average stage so you would be advised to approach them with caution. Upon completion of the sixteen stages you will then face the final stage, which is a castle with 21 stationary targets that you have to hit in 3 seconds. After that, congratulations you have passed Beginner Mode. Then depending on if you have a high enough score you will get to enter your name in the days topscore list and then it is game over. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ADVANCED MODE ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ If you have successfully completed Beginner Mode repeatedly without losing a life, then you just may be prepared to take on Advanced Mode. Advanced Mode is much more difficult than beginner mode, with each of it's sixteen stages almost as difficult as the Very Hard stages in Beginner Mode. There will again same as Beginner Mode, be four stages on the screen and you can select which one you want to do by shooting it with the gun. Of the four stages to select, there will be one "Very Hard" stage. Dont worry too much, the "Very Hard" stages aren't much harder than they were in Beginner Mode. Once again, upon completion of the sixteen stages you will then face the final stage, which is a castle with 21 stationary targets that you have to hit in 3 seconds. After that, congratulations you have now passed Advanced Mode. Then depending on if you have a high enough score, you will get to enter your name in the days topscore list and then it is game over. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ VERY HARD ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ The icon to shoot if you want to do Very Hard Mode is the small purple flaming icon under the Beginner Mode icon that says Very Hard. Only if you have easily breezed through Advanced Mode repeatedly without losing any lives should you attempt Very Hard Mode. Every one of the sixteen stages in Very Hard mode is a "Very Hard" stage. That is the only notable difference between Advanced Mode and Very Hard mode. Once again, upon completion of the sixteen stages you will then face the final stage, which is a castle with 21 stationary targets that you have to hit in 3 seconds. After that, congratulations you have now passed Very Hard Mode. You will then be shown the ending credits and a series of short animations of Dr Dan and Dr Don and various other targets you have been shooting at(like skeletons and piranhas) dancing around getting up to other little antics. Then depending on if you have a high enough score(which you will almost certainly have upon completing Very Hard Mode), you will get to enter your name in the days topscore list and then it is game over. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ BONUS ROUND ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ During Beginner, Advanced and Very Hard Mode upon completion of the eighth stage you will the be presented with a bonus round. The bonus round consists of four treasure chests floating down the screen at different speeds, while you have only one bullet in which to choos which chest you will get. Of the four chests, one will contain gold coins which are worth ten thousand points towards your score, one will contain a heart which is an extra life, one chest will contain both the gold coins and a heart while one chest will contain NOTHING. BONUS ROUND CHEAT: Generally it is thought that the chest containing both the heart and the gold coins is the SECOND FASTEST chest. Meaning, the chest that is descending down the screen the second fastest. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ STAGE SCORE FACTORS ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Factors that affect the stage score you receive are: Quickshot -The time in which you first shoot anything on the screen that can be hit. For example, if you shoot a target(or anything that will give you hitpoints such as glass etc) within one second of the doors to the stage opening, you will receive more points than if you shoot a target 5 seconds after the doors opening. The score you will receive from a quickshot is in the vicinity of 9000 points for a quickshot less than .5 of a second, and the quickshot point bonus you will receive from a quickshot of 2 seconds is approximately 3000 points down to about 500 points for a quickshot of 6 seconds. There is a big difference. If you can see a window before an actual quota target presents itself, you are well advised to shoot it. Hit Points -Depend on how many objects(not quota targets but objects, including quota targets) you shoot. You will receive alot of additional points if you shoot objects that aren't part of the quota(excluding bombs, hostage targets, targets of your opposite color) such as glass windows, light bulbs, animals and generally anything that does something(such as breaking, or changing direction) when shot. Accuracy - The points you receive for accuracy correspond to your accuracy times ten. if you shoot nine targets and miss one time, you will have an accuracy rating of ninety percent, and you will receive an accuracy bonus of 900 points. The accuracy bonus is critical when going for high scores. If you achieve an accuracy bonus of 100%, you will receive an additional 1000 points to your stage score. Correct utilizition of the 100% accuracy bonus can result in you easily beating previous stage high scores. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ TIPS FOR SOME OF THE HARDER STAGES ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ In one stage you will be confronted with three bouncing balls that you have to shoot. The catch is that you have shoot all three balls with one shot. This is a fairly easy one on beginner. But in Advanced and Very Hard Mode it can prove to be quite difficult. The trick is to shoot in the exact middle of the screen as soon as the doors open. In Very Hard Mode on the stage where the targets drop down from the top of the screen with parachutes, try to shoot them before the parachutes deploy because then it is an easier shot because the targets are falling straight down, but on the other hand, when the parachutes have deployed it is a much harder shot because the targets vigorously move from left to right. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ EXTRA POINTS ON SOME STAGES ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Extra hit points are crucial. Here are some places to look out for extra hit points In the Cuckoo bird stage you can receive extra hit points by shooting the weathervane on the top right hand corner of the screen. In any stage where there is glass, you can shoot the glass for extra hit points. In the stage where the criminals pop out of the hallway, you can shoot the lights on the roof for extra hit points. In the stage with the Octopi jumping out of the pots, you can shoot the hermit crab walking back and fowards near the bottom of the screen for extra hit points. In the stage where the targets drop from the top of the screens with parachutes, you can shoot the parachutes for extra hit points( and also when you do this the target will fall straight down, making for an easier shot). Also you can shoot the parachute of the bombs which will cause them to plummet offscreen quicker. On the stage where the criminals pop up in a skyscraper behind glass windows, note that if you get an accuracy rating of 101% or more(and obviously of less) you will not receive the 1000 point 100% accuracy bonus. But if you manage to get an accuracy rating of 200%, you will get a double accuracy bonus of 2000 points. The way to achieve an accuracy rating of 200% on this stage is to shoot criminals that still have a window in front of them only, meaning that if you shoot a criminal through a window, if a criminal pops up in that particular window again, do NOT shoot him. This method will easily have you beating the stage's previous high score. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ THE LAST STAGE (NOT APPLICABLE TO TRAINING MODE) ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ In the last level of this game you will have 3 seconds to shoot twentyone small targets displayed on a castle. Strategy: Start with the four targets on the bottom lefthand side of the screen working over to the bottom five targets then moving to the four targets on the bottom righthand side of the screen. From there go up to the two targets in the upper righthand of the screen then left and slightly up to the top four targets and then left and slightly down for the two top left hand side targets. Remember you have only three seconds so if you miss a target just keep going and when you've completed a pass, go back for the targets you have missed. The score you receive for hitting all twentyone targets is at least 29,000 points and up to 32,000(depending on other factors such as accuracy,quickshot,etc) so if you are going for a high score it is crucial to hit all twentyone targets in the final stage. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ CREDIT ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Thankyou to Namco for making such a great and fun game, www.GameFaqs.com for having such a great internet site that provides such a great service to the whole gaming community and to anybody who takes the time to read this FAQ. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ CONTACT INFO FOR SUBMISSIONS, QUESTIONS, COMMENTS ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ You can contact me Happy Murderer at The_Happy_Murderer@Yahoo.com with any questions comments or submissions. Any submissions included in the FAQ will be credited. Version 0.75