Target Earth FAQ/Guide (Sega Genesis) 6/13/2005 v1.1 dammit9x at hotmail dot com Copyright 2005 This document may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any unauthorized web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited and a violation of copyright. ------------------------------ Contents * Introduction * Gameplay Controls Gravity Gameplay Mechanics Lives Weapons Bonuses * Option Mode * Weapons List * Mission Walkthrough * Secrets * Japanese Version Differences * Closing ------------------------------ * Introduction #### This guide has NO story-related spoilers. #### | | | IT BEGAN WHEN | | | | EARTH'S OUTCASTS | | | | RETURNED FROM THE | | | | DARKEST REACHES OF | | | | SPACE. | | | | THEY ATTACKED THE | | | | PLANET AND ALL HER | | | | GALACTIC OUTPOSTS | | | | WITH LIGHTING | | | | FURY. | | | | THE EARTH DEFENSE | | | | LEAGUE FOUGHT FOR | | | | EARTH'S SURVIVAL | | | | WITH WARRIORS OUT- | | | | FITTED IN GIGANTIC | | | | CYBORG BATTLE | | | | ARMOR. | | | | THE BATTLE BEGAN | | | | ON GANYMEDE... | | | * Gameplay Controls: D-pad: Controls aiming and movement. See aiming mode for details. A button: Fire selected weapon. B button: Jump. Hold to jump higher. Also uses B-PACK if it's in your inventory. C button: Select next weapon if enabled in option mode. Otherwise does nothing. Start: Pauses game and shows weapon selection. Gravity: Most levels have normal gravity, which means you walk and jump around normally. Some levels are lo-grav, so you can move in any direction with the D-pad and the jump button doesn't do anything. Also some weapons are affected by gravity. Lo-grav levels tend to have lots of wide open space, which gives you more room to maneuver. Gameplay mechanics: There are no power-ups or ammo refills to be found during the levels. However, damage taken is gradually and automatically healed over time; about one bar every three seconds. It's important to hang back when hurt in order to heal. Also, in most levels you will be supported by friendly assault suits or other help. While they aren't all that aggressive, they are still helpful by distracting the enemy and absorbing damage for you. Something to keep in mind is that explosions from enemies blowing up can hurt you and other robots. Sometimes enemies spout a great plume of flame when exploding. Therefore you should try to take out enemies from a safe distance when possible. Whenever you see enemies coming on screen at random and attacking, there will also be allied suits (the ones in brown) arriving to help from time to time, though in smaller numbers. Some areas have no random enemies. Lives: If you die or fail a critical objective, it's "Game Over." You can continue from the main menu two times. You can also continue if you reset the game during play, though this also costs you a continue. Dying does not cause you to lose your items. Weapons: When starting a mission, you choose up to six weapons to take. You may take more than one of the same type. Some of these are actually support items rather than weapons. All of the weapons except for the LG-GUN and HG-GUN have limited ammo. You can reuse weapons from level to level, even if you spent all the ammo. See the Weapons List for details. Bonuses: Upon finishing a mission you will be shown the points earned. Points come from killing enemies, and most levels also have a special bonus that is given at the end. See the walkthrough for details. The number of weapons you get depends on the total points you earned, including the level bonus. * Option Mode GAME LEVEL: NORMAL HARD HYPER I'm not sure what the precise differences between the levels are, but you can see for yourself that even normal is pretty hard. C BUTTON: WEAPON SELECT CANCEL If enabled this lets you cycle weapons with the C button, without going to the inventory screen. AIMING MODE: A TYPE B TYPE A type points your weapon in whatever direction you push the D-pad. B type lets you control the aim by tapping or holding up and down on the D-pad. Both are pretty clumsy, as the gun takes time to swivel around. In lo-grav levels they are practically the same. Note that you can change modes during gameplay by pausing, then pressing A, B and C together. PAD RESET: ENABLE CANCEL If enabled you can reset to the main menu by holding A, B and C then pressing start. SOUND TEST MODE You can hear the sound effects and music from the game. DATA ROOM Shows records for each of the 8 missions. This information is not saved when you turn off the power. * Weapons List LG-GUN 20 Ammo This is a rapid fire gun that shoots plain bullets. When the clip is empty it reloads automatically after about 1 second. Since this is practically the only weapon with unlimited ammo, it may seem like a bad idea to go without it. However, after the first level, you probably won't need it until level 6. HG-GUN 20 Ammo This is an upgraded LG-GUN with increased power. Like the LG-GUN it has infinite reloads. Too bad you don't get it till the last level. 25-SC 60 Ammo This is a shotgun that shoots 3 bullets in a spread pattern. Rapid fire. An efficient way to kill weak enemies is to get up close (but not too close) and blast once with the 25-SC. Also good when you need to hit those turrets without getting too close. 40-SC 50 Ammo Upgraded 25-SC which does more damage. GL 50 Ammo This fires grenades that arc except in lo-grav levels. If the capsules hit the ground they spread three explosions around. Powerful but the rate of fire is low. MGL 45 Ammo Upgraded GL which does more damage. 150BZ 50 Ammo This bazooka fires medium power shots at a medium rate. 203BZ 40 Ammo Upgraded 150BZ which does more damage. MISSILE 50 Ammo This fires homing missiles. It has medium power and persistent homing ability but low firing rate and slow speed. Homing missiles are considerably more useful in lo-grav levels because there are no walls for them to run into, and if one enemy is destroyed they can pursue another. They are also useful against bosses. M-POD 50 Ammo Upgraded MISSILE which has both a higher rate of fire and increased power. Essential on the later levels. E-AS 70 Ammo This shoots fast blue beams, and can only be fired horizontally. Extremely rapid fire but the shots have low power. Seems to miss a lot, and the ammo is quickly depleted. Overall this weapon is powerful but hard to aim, which makes it a good substitute for D-D. E-CN 55 Ammo Upgraded E-AS with more power, but note the reduction in ammo. D-D 30 Ammo This shoots a pellet that travels a fixed distance then explodes, releasing four clouds of shrapnel which sink slowly. The shrapnel does damage continuously for a few seconds, though the pellet itself does no damage. Extremely low rate of fire. Useful against stationary bosses and worthless against normal enemies. You'll forget all about it once you get M.PODs though. BLAST 10 Ammo This is a strange weapon that shoots small spinning missiles. I really don't understand what it's for. SHIELD 1 Ammo Rex holds a shield in front, which reduces the damage taken by half. ARMOR 1 Ammo Extends your health by 4 bars. You have 16 bars without any armor, and up to 32 bars with four suits of armor. B-PACK 1 Ammo When you are carrying this, you can hold the jump button while airborne to provide some additional upward thrust. The effect is a moderately increased vertical range and greatly increased horizontal range for your jumps. Can be used as much as you want without running out. Really only useful for mission 4. * Mission Walkthrough Note: I have listed the bonus weapons in the order I received them, but I have observed two variants for some of the levels. Both sets are shown, when applicable. Also, it may be possible to get more weapons than I did, if your score is higher. STAGE1: Assault on Ganymede You start with LG-GUN, 25-SC and D-D available. Be sure to take all of them. After a certain amount of time, you will be told of the approaching warship. The ship starts at the far right of the map (56 miles away from the base) and approaches at about 1 mile per second. To finish the level you must destroy the warship. D-D works well for this purpose. Bonus: 500 x miles from base when the warship was destroyed Bonus Weapons: GL ARMOR 150BZ STAGE2: Escape The objective is to evacuate the base. The escape shuttle appears when you reach the far right of the map. Your bonus depends on how many friendlies (worker bots and brown assault suits) make it onto the shuttle. The shuttle leaves immediately when you get in, but you can wait around at the shuttle and more friendlies will show up. During this time, the shuttle will be providing covering fire. 60 seconds after opening the hatch, the captain says "Hurry up." 60 seconds after that, the hatch closes. Be sure to get in before then. Bonus: 600 x friendlies rescued Bonus weapons: MISSILE MGL 25-SC 150BZ STAGE3: Orbital Attack This is the first lo-grav level. In this stage, going too far down into the atmosphere will cause you and other robots take damage. The objective is to destroy the enemy warship, which is at the right side of the map. It is well defended by turrets and enemies, so take your time and be careful. The total mission time is 300 seconds. After destroying the warship you need to fend off the enemies until there are 60 seconds left. At that time, your next objective is to return to one of the three shuttles. The bonus depends on how many seconds were left when you entered the the shuttle. Don't enter too early because this leaves the shuttle almost defenseless, and it won't survive the enemy attacks. Don't be too late or you'll be left behind. At about the 30 second mark, give or take, enemies will stop coming. That is the best time to get in. Bonus: 600 x seconds remaining when you entered the shuttle Bonus weapons: B-PACK 40-SC M.POD 40-SC GL D-D E-AS B-PACK 40-SC M.POD STAGE4: Front Line Assault The B-PACK is recommended for this level. First, drop down to the earth. Then keep moving to the far right. It is hard to fight in the water, so try to hover over it. When the hatch is opened for you at the end, go in and move to the bottom of the base. When you enter the base, an unseen timer is started which will affect your score for the level, although there is no penalty for running out of time. Shotgun weapons are useful against the annoying turrets here, but don't stick around to kill them. Try to keep moving. Long jumps and hovering with the B-PACK are useful for avoiding the red beam traps. Be careful: about halfway down there is a drop towards the left that leads to a trap you can't escape without the B-PACK. To be safe, stick to the right until you get a feel for the layout. At the bottom you need to destroy the boss, which is a big spinning turbine. Shoot the top part of the hub to damage it, but watch out as it lobs grenades at you. Homing missiles kill it very fast. Bonus: 600 x seconds remaining when you destroyed the boss Bonus weapons: MISSILE ARMOR M.POD MGL 40-SC GL MISSILE ARMOR M.POD STAGE5: Surprise Attack In this mission you simply wander around and kill enemies for about 120 seconds. As usual, enemies come from the right and allies from the left. After that time, a boss (who is invincible) will come and attack you, but the mission ends quickly. Bonus: 400 x enemies killed Bonus weapons: MGL 40-SC 203BZ STAGE6: Headquarter Blitz This is like stage 4 but longer and much more difficult. You may want to bring along the LG-GUN, because you will need to do a lot of shooting. First get the the right side of the map. About halfway across, at the bottom of the canyon, there will be a huge barrier generator machine that you need to take out. It is very well defended with grenade launchers, but you can fire at it while its guns are off screen. Continuing to the right, you need to climb up the canyon walls. You may be able to hide under the cliffs for awhile when you need to regenerate life. From time to time a friendly bot may come to help but you are mainly on your own here. At the far right side, the door will be opened for you to enter the base. This base has less platforming and more enemies than the stage 4 base. The enemies will keep coming, and there are more red beam traps to avoid. You may even encounter some friendlies in here. Use the same strategy as before: when you find cover, stop to heal. Never stop at a broad flat area or you will only exchange hits with the enemies. At the end you will encounter a boss which you must defeat. He attacks by shooting bullets which pause overhead briefly then move toward your position. He will also claw you at close range. To damage it you must hit the head, which requires jumping or using homing missiles. For this level and the remaining levels, take it slow and easy, and don't worry about bonuses. Bonus: No bonus available. Bonus weapons: ARMOR 203BZ E-AS STAGE7: Space Colony Smash This level starts out lo-grav. Head to the right (watch out for mines) and blast the hatch to enter the colony area, where gravity is normal. Pass through and try to destroy the egg-shaped canisters. There are 19 in this area and they are pretty hard to miss. There are plenty of places where you can take cover behind buildings to heal. Keep going and you will find another hatch, beyond which is lo-grav again. Here you have to destroy the boss, a huge warship. Watch out for its exhaust streams, which are pointing to the left. Approach from above or below to avoid them. The ship is bristling with lasers and cannons, and also defended by mini mechs. M.POD makes this battle a piece of cake. This level is easier than level 6. Bonus: 400 x pods destroyed Bonus weapons: M.POD HG-GUN SHIELD E-CN ARMOR STAGE8: The Final Conflict This is a lo-grav level. I recommend you take the HG-GUN, an M.POD, the SHIELD, and at least two ARMORs. You start off in the middle of the allied fleet. Head to the right and eventually you will meet up with the enemy fleet. You can destroy the cannons on the large stationary ships, but not the ships themselves, though it's best to just keep moving. All the way to the right you will find the flagship and you will be attacked by a boss. Do him enough damage and you will enter the ship. This base is much bigger but not as difficult as the previous two. It is also lo-grav inside here. You start at the upper left and must make it to the lower right, but there are lots of dead ends, and many, many turrets. When you have to choose between going right or going down, try to go down. Remember that you can take as much time as you need to regenerate life when you reach safe spots. At the end there is a boss who attacks with rapid fire missiles that go horizontally, and with a long beam he swings around himself. M.POD gets the job done quickly. Now in the next room is a second boss. He attacks by spawning little droids which shoot fireballs. They are not so tough but they just keep coming, even if you run away. The boss is protected by a blue barrier. Blast the barrier enough times and it will disappear. Then shoot at the guy standing behind there. The way I did it was by moving in a clockwise circle around the room, firing off shots with the M.POD or HG-GUN whenever I was pointing at the boss. In this way you can dodge the droids' fire while hitting the enemy. Bonus: No bonus available. Bonus weapons: E-CN ARMOR (if you missed them before) * Secrets This section is copied from the Secrets page of Gamefaqs.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Weapons Do not collect any bonus weapons or destroy anything except the ship at the end of the first level. Your score after the level is completed should be more than 2,800 points. Contributed By: Vengeance Control the Logo Press A + C + (Left or Right) on the second controller at the logo screen. Use the D-pad, A, and C to change the size and rotation of the logo. Contributed By: Vengeance Invincibility Durind the game press Start on controller two and you should be invincible Contributed By: Mike Truitt Nine Lives Begin playing the game and get past level 2. After it's over, enter the options screen and press Start. A woman will appear and say ''Continue Up'' to confirm correct code entry. This may be repeated at any time if your lives have dropped below three. Contributed By: Vengeance Two Players Wait until the first green alien appears on the right side of the screen in the first level. Press Start on controller two. One player can control the normal robot while the other player controls the enemy robot. Contributed By: Vengeance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Japanese Version Differences The Japanese version is known as "Assault Suits Leynos." The main menu and the option screen are in English, while the in-game dialogue is in Japanese. There seems to be more dialogue between the main character and his allies, and some parts were taken out of the American version. For example, there is a grim scene at the end of level 3, and in level 6 Rex makes a remark when the pilot opens the door to the base. The first part of the intro description is different, reading: | | | IT BEGAN WHEN | | | | EARTH'S OUTCASTS | | | | RETURNED IN GREAT | | | | WARSHIPS FROM THE | | | | DARKEST REACHES OF | | | | SPACE. | | | As far as the game mechanics go, the two versions are the same, and the Japanese version is fully playable if you don't know Japanese. There is a sequel to this game for the Sega Saturn, "Assault Suits Leynos 2," which was only released in Japan. Also of interest is the game Juusou Kihei Valken (Assault Suits Valken) for SNES, also developed by NCS. An English translation has been released by the group AGTP, and a FAQ/Guide has been released by me. * Closing Credit goes to the people who submitted the secrets given above. This document is my own work. Any questions, comments, corrections or complaints should be addressed to the address below, with clear indication in the subject line that the email is concerning this FAQ. Given that I prefer to write for obscure titles, I enjoy hearing from people who read my guides. If you've played the game and used the FAQ, feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think. dammit9x at hotmail dot com