Cobra Triangle I noticed there isn't much for walkthroughs on this game, so here's a guide that should help with conquering this seemingly difficult game. Since some levels are redundant, or self explanatory I'll only focus on important tips that will get you through to the end. Also, since my walkthrough will concentrate on getting past the 25 levels, I won't be going into great details on scoring, upgrades, or anything like that. Controls ------------------------ Directional pad: Steers the boat Select: Used to power up your boat. As you collect pods, the various upgrades will flash at the bottom of the screen. Press select to choose the flashing upgrade. Start: Pauses game B: Accelerate A: Fire weapons Upgrades ------------------------ Turbo: You will accelerate faster from a stand still Fire: Changes the style of your gunfire (I prefer the spread fire that shoots forward) Speed: Changes the top speed of your boat Missile: Gives you powerful missiles-the last missile upgrade gives homing missiles Force: Gives temporary invincibility, temporary homing missiles, and REFILLS energy Note: You will sometimes find a fork in the river. Choosing left or right will affect the order of levels. My walkthrough always chooses the LEFT branch of the river (Route 1 below). *A big thanks to ktwo for mapping out the level order for all branches of the river. There are 2 river forks that you will come across. The first is in level 1 and the 2nd is in level 9. NOTE: Finish L has logs Finish I has icebergs Route 1 (Fork left on level 1, Fork left of level 9) 1-Race 2-Pods 3-Mines 4-Finish L 5-Monster 6-Target 7-People 8-Waterfall 9-Race 10-Monster 11-Target 12-Mines 13-Finish I 14-Race 15-Pods 16-People 17-Monster 18-Target 19-Race 20-Mines 21-Finish I 22-Waterfall 23-Monster 24-Monster 25-?? Route 2 (Fork left on level 1, Fork right on level 9) 1-Race 2-Pods 3-Mines 4-Finish L 5-Monster 6-Target 7-People 8-Waterfall 9-Race 10-Monster 11-Target 12-Finish I 13-Mines 14-Race 15-Pods 16-People 17-Monster 18-Target 19-Race 20-Finish L 21-Mines 22-Waterfall 23-Monster 24-Monster 25-?? Route 3 (Fork right on level 1, Fork left on level 9) 1- Race 2- Mines 3- Pods 4-People 5-Monster 6-Target 7-Finish L 8-Waterfall 9-Race 10-Monster 11-Mines 12-Mines 13-Finish I 14-Race 15-People 16-Pods 17-Monster 18-Target 19-Race 20-Mines 21-Finish I 22-Waterfall 23-Monster 24-Monster 25-?? Route 4 (Fork right on level 1, Fork right on level 9) 1- Race 2- Mines 3- Pods 4-People 5-Monster 6-Target 7-Finish L 8-Waterfall 9-Race 10-Monster 11-Target 12-Finish I 13-Mines 14-Race 15-People 16-Pods 17-Monster 18-Target 19-Race 20-Finish L 21-Mines 22-Waterfall 23-Monster 24-Monster 25-?? Tips & Most of a Walkthrough ------------------------ Level 1 (Race): This should be where you max out your boat with all upgrades. Just cruise straight ahead, pick up the pod, and STOP right about where the pod was. While you sit there, boats will come towards you, and many will carry pods. Just blast them, and collect the pods as they cruise towards you. If you get out of place, just return to your position. When your time gets down to 16 (the music will change), race towards the 1-up. After you collect it, you will start over and you will retain your power ups. Using this method of upgrading, and the then collecting the 1-up, you can get all your upgrading done on the first track. Level 2 (Pods): You should be powered up after the first race. There are just a few things you should remember: be sure to collect the 1-up in this stage, stay a good distance ahead of the beam, and make sure you have your power ups built up to FORCE when you leave this level. The easiest way to leave this level with FORCE is to not collect pods until you have your 1-up. After you collect your 1-up, and reveal the hidden question marks (which could be more 1-ups), then collect pods until you have FORCE. Some pods are worth 1 power up & some are worth 2. Note: If your missile power up is flashing, and you collect a number 2 pod, you will loop past the FORCE upgrade. To prevent this, cruise past the ramps until you find a number 1 pod, then turn around and collect it off the ramp. You must keep a fair distance ahead of the beam to do this. Level 3 (Mines): Deliver the mines by swerving back and forth to keep the enemy boat off your tail. If the enemies on shore are giving you difficulty, you have enough time to go kill them first, and then continue on with the mission. A more efficient way is haul the mine towards the delivery point, and blast away when you get close. You should take out some enemies while firing this way. One other tip, your boat is in danger of blowing up at the delivery point. I'm not 100% sure what causes this, but I believe it is either due to crossing over the middle of the delivery point, or else driving too slow in the delivery point. When I'm dropping off mines, I swoop around so that as the mine is delivered, I'm already turning towards the beginning of the level to pick up another mine. Level 4 (Finish): This level is easy if you have a FORCE ready. First, just dodge some logs (move right, left, and then in between). When you get to the whirlpools, that's when you should activate your FORCE. Then, just speed towards the finish line, and avoid a few more obstacles when your FORCE is done. If you don't have the log positions memorized, just let off the gas as soon as they come on the screen. While you are stalled, you can turn towards the opening, and then accelerate around/through them. Level 5 (Monster-Sea Serpent): For starters, hold the A button until the start of the battle, and you will score a quick hit on the monster before the fight even begins. For strategy, I like to keep to the left side of the screen. Just get a feel for how often the monster shoots. If you stay to the left, you won't have to worry too much about his tail hitting you, so you just have to worry about his firing attack. Just move top to bottom while he is firing, stall, turn & shoot, and then go bottom to top, stall, turn & shoot. You should be able to take him down without losing a life, as long as you are moving while he is shooting. Level 6 (Target): You'll get a 1-up if you hit all the targets. The main thing to remember is that the targets are in a pattern, but they don't simply alternate back and forth. It will be something like left, right, left, left, right, left, left etc. Once you learn this pattern, the other target shooting stages are very similar. Level 7 (People): You can earn a 1-up on this level if you keep all 8 people from being captured. It's quite difficult though, so don't be discouraged if you miss the extra life. I have never gotten an extra life myself on this stage. Since you have a fully powered boat with homing missiles, you should get past this stage without dying. The UFO's shots will take away life, but just try to hit him before he hits you. If the time is close, and you have only 2 life bars left, speed around the people's boundary in a circular motion while shooting, so the UFO doesn't kill you and you can still hit boats with your homing missiles. Level 8 (Waterfall) Do not fear the waterfall stage no matter what you've read. :) With an upgraded boat, you don't need lots of runway before you hit the ramp. When the level starts, speed straight ahead for the first ramp (this one is not moving). Now, for the rest of the course, there are different ways to approach the ramps, and here they are. Turn around method: When you are headed towards the ramp, do a 180, so you are facing into the current. Do some tapping on the gas so you don't go over the falls, and get into a position next to the shore on one side of the river. Your boat should be positioned so the back of the boat is even with the ramp. When the ramp is touching your boat, and is headed towards the other side of the river, give it the gas, and turn a 180, so that you meet up with the ramp. The most important part of this method is to give it a little practice, so you know how and where to meet the ramp. Drifting method: This method is probably a little easier, but I recommend trying them both to see which one you prefer. After you make that first jump, you will notice that the direction of the current changes halfway to the ramp. Give the boat just enough gas to cross over that point, then stop accelerating. Now, notice the position of the whirlpool and ramp, and as soon as you see a clear path towards the ramp, accelerate and steer for it. The last ramp has 2 whirlpools before it, so it can be pretty tricky. Just try one of the 2 methods, and don't worry if you lose 1 life on that last whirlpool. One other important thing to point out... if you do die during the race, your boat will be temporarily invincible for a couple seconds. Use this time to cruise through the whirlpool, and go straight for the ramp. *Tip sent in from ktwo (another waterfall strategy to try out) Wait for a second when it starts and then give full throttle until the finish. You'll hit all the ramps and avoid all the vortexes! Level 9 (Race) Not too much to mention here. You will need to leave this race with a FORCE power up. I usually use one during the race, and then build up for another one. If you get to the finish line area without it, turn around and just cruise back and forth until some pod boats come out. Even if you lose a boat in this process, it's worth it, because the FORCE will refill your life meter, as well as give you some invincibility time. One other thing to mention, is that if you hit a ramp, don't do any steering, and you should land fine. Just make sure you hit that ramp at full speed. The ramps in the races are always located in wide sections of river, just before a curve. So, if you prefer to avoid them, then don't go in the middle of the river when it's wide. Level 10 (Monster-Crab) Probably the easiest monster in the game. When the race starts, steer right, and swoop below the crab. Then, swoop around him, and head up towards the upper right corner (behind the crab). Go to that corner, and turn around. He will shoot towards you, but won't hit you if you are in the corner. There may be one shot that gets lucky and hits you during the level, but you will get past this without losing a guy. Level 11 (Target) Nothing special, just see level 6 Level 12 (Mines) This level is a bit tougher than level 3. There are 2 enemy boats this time, and they move faster. There is also an island in the middle, so you have to steer around it. In order to be successful against the faster boats, you will have to do some sharper cornering than in level 3. I am pointed almost perpendicular to the shore when I'm doing my swerving. I will pick up a mine, and do 2 sharp turns before the island, and my next turn will be around the island. If you get that far with your mine, then you are almost home free. After you deliver the first one, if might be helpful to blast the enemies on the shore. You should definitely take out the 2 enemies on the island, and with skill, you can blast them while you are taking the first mine. Don't worry if time runs low. You should be able to get a mine to the delivery point in about 10-15 seconds. Level 13 (Finish) When you try this level for the first time, you might wonder if it's even passable. When you figure out how the icebergs work, you will probably find this level to be easy. This is the level where you will use your FORCE. To start out, you can get a feel for the icebergs. First, you'll see the water ripple, then the iceberg comes up. The best strategy for this level is taking it a little bit at a time. Move forward for a second or 2, and then learn where the icebergs will pop up. Steer accordingly, and then move forward past that part, and study the ripples again. There are some places where the icebergs will always pop up (especially towards the end of the race). In those places, you will have to steer towards the clear part of the river, and then proceed forward. The most difficult part will probably be where there are icebergs that move back & forth, and you have to steer around or in between them. I find both ways to be equally challenging, so just pick one. There are advantages to going around the outside though. If you time it wrong, keep your boat going forward, because the iceberg should pause for a second, and you can sneak by. Also, if those moving icebergs don't touch the shore when they go back and forth, you can fit around the outside of them. If you have any difficulty with the guns on the shore during the race, take them out before moving farther. Usually they aren't much of a threat though. On a final note, during this race, the river gets narrow during 2 parts of the race. You should use the FORCE when you are going to start the second narrow part. This will get you pretty close to the finish, and will refill your life meter, which will probably be pretty low by now. From there, just do some B button tapping to figure out where the icebergs will pop up while treading some water, and then move to the clear area and proceed. Level 14 (Race) Nothing new here. Just remember not to steer when you go off of ramps, and use FORCE during this race when you get them, or when your energy is low. Level 15 (Pods) This time they added bombs to the course. I use FORCE during this level, just to stay alive with all the bombs, and you should leave this level with a FORCE too. There is a 1-up that you should collect also. Level 16 (People) This one can be a pain if you get killed during the countdown. Start this level just like normal (kill boats & UFO's when they come onto the screen). The most important thing is to keep an eye on your life meter. If you have FORCE, use it when you have 2 or 4 bars left (the UFO missiles will take away 2 life bars). By filling up your life meter like this, you should stay alive for the entire race. Now, if you get down to 4 bars, or if you are down to 2 people, this is where you should change your strategy. Keep killing boats and the UFO until there is a person outside of the boundary. Then pick him up, and keep circling around the outside of the people boundary while shooting. There will be heavily armed UFO's that show up, but just keep the pedal to the metal and keep firing until the countdown ends. Level 17 (Monster-Octopus) This is another easy monster. Hopefully you have the gun that shoots 4 bullets forward. I haven't tried it with the other guns, but it might work just as easily. Just wail on the trigger as fast as you can while the level is starting and turn just a slight amount to the left. You should take away almost all of the creature's energy before you get hit. Then, aim at him, and continue to fire. He has an attack where his arm will grab up and take your boat under, but with this fast attack method, he shouldn't even get to that part of his attack. Level 18 (Target) Nothing special, just see level 6 Level 19 (Race) See tips for level 9 and 14. Make sure to leave this race with FORCE. Level 20 (Mines) This level is just like 12, except it goes to the right instead of the left. Also, there is a whirlpool circling around the delivery point. If you use sharp turns like in level 12 (nearly perpendicular to the shore), you should be able to see the whirlpool ahead of time and be able to easily avoid it. Level 21 (Finish) Here is the level where you use your FORCE. The icebergs pop up faster, but I think it's just to mess with your head (it's not like you could go over them before either). See level 13 for some pointers, and again, try to wait until the second narrow portion to use FORCE. This time, the guns on shore are the stun guns, so you'll probably want to do a quick turn and shoot towards their direction. With a 4 way gun, it should be easy to hit them, and then you don't have to worry about your boat drifting down river. Again, use the slow advance method, where you move ahead a little, let off the gas and steer clear of the icebergs, and then advance a little more. If you are getting low on time, and you are close to the finish, you will probably want to speed ahead. If you lose a life this way, it will be much better than having to start at the beginning of this level. Level 22 (Waterfall) This level has faster moving ramps, and circling whirlpools. See the info for level 8. If you use the turn around method, you will need to turn quicker, since the ramps move faster. Just remember that if you lose a guy, immediately go towards the ramp, because you will have a couple seconds worth of invincibility to get you past the whirlpool. Level 23 (Monster-Red Sea Serpent) Another contender for the easiest monster to kill. You will notice a very short time limit. All you have to do is keep on the gas and keep moving away from the monster. He will die all by himself. Just don't shoot and you will stay alive (shooting equals a quick death for yourself). Level 24 (Monster-Shark) Here's a monster that puts up a good challenge. The shark! You'll notice that he has a pretty easy pattern to avoid, which is moving back and forth. Now for the tough part. You can only hit him when he comes out of the water, and you have to be in front of him for your shots to register. Depending on how many shots you get him with, you can take away anywhere from 1 life bar to 1/2 of his entire life meter! If you are in his way though, he will swallow your boat and take away 1 life instantly. I haven't noticed a definite pattern to when he comes out of the water, but he will usually go back and forth 2-4 times, and then come out. To beat him, the best method I've found is to stay on the left edge of the screen. Then, get your boat to the area where he is approaching, but don't stay directly in his path. As he gets closer, you should be turned so that you can hit him if he surfaces. Start firing like crazy towards him, and then get prepared for the next opportunity. *Tip sent in from ktwo On the shark, try to move in opposite direction. If he goes to the left, go to the right and so on. This way you'll have a good chance of getting in front of him when he surfaces. This will become more difficult when the shark speeds up towards the end, but should get you off to a good start. Level 25 (??) Hopefully this walkthrough has helped so far. For level 25, you are on your own unfortunately. Once you get past the first 24 levels, you should be skilled enough to handle this one. Questions/Comments ------------------------ Feel free to email me if you have questions or comments about this walkthrough. If it helped you conquer this game, I'd be happy to hear about it. If you are having difficulty with a particular area, just email and I can try to give some more pointers. I can be reached at fwestphal@hotmail.com