Sun, 23 Feb 2003 23:34:41 -0500 (GMT) ___ ___ ____ _________ __________ ___ | |\| |\/ /\ / \ | \\| |\ | |\| |/ /\ | __ |\| __ |\| |\ | |\| /\ | |\\| |\| |\\\ |\| |\ | |\| /\ | |\_| |\| |\_/ /\ | |\ | |\| \\ | |\| <\ | |\ | |\| \\ | __ |\| __ \ | |\ | |\| |\ \\ | |\\| |\| |\\| |\| |\ | |\| |\\ \\ | |\ | |\| |\ | |\| |\ |___|\|___|\ \___\\|___|\ |___|\|___|\ |___|\|___|\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ \\\\\ _ _ _____ _____ _____ _ _____ _____ _____ | | | || _ || _ || _ || || _ || _ || ___| | |/\| || |_| || |_| || |_| || || | | || |_| || |___ | || _ || _ < | _ < | || | | || _ < |___ | | /\ || | | || | | || | | || || |_| || | | | ___| | \/ \/ |_| |_||_| |_||_| |_||_||_____||_| |_||_____| IKARI WARRIORS FAQ/WALKTHROUGH version 1.00 for NES by Wilson Lau Copyright © 2003 Wilson Lau Ikari Warriors is copyright © 1986 SNK Electronics Corp. This FAQ is best viewed in Courier, 10 point font. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may find this FAQ and all future revisions at: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Toshi's Home Page (me) www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/4610/ GameFAQs www.gamefaqs.com ============================================================================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ============================================================================= I. Introduction II FAQ History III. Story IV. Controls V. Gameplay VI. Items/Powerups VII. Enemies VIII. Walkthrough IX. Secrets and Codes X. Frequently Asked Questions XI. Credits XII. Contact/Legal Information ============================================================================= I. INTRODUCTION ============================================================================= What is Ikari Warriors? It was originally an arcade game by SNK that featured two joysticks per player. One was used for movement while the other was used to aim. This allowed a precision like no other game had before. Not too many games used this two joystick model. The most notable would probably be Smash T.V. The game was one of military survival. You took control of one of two soldiers, Paul and Vince, and guided them through enemy territory. All you had with you were your grenades, your machine guns, and your wits. It will be easier to follow the plot if you think of this game as a Rambo clone of sorts. Ikari Warriors was ported to many home systems, one of them being the Nintendo Entertainment System. That is where this guide comes in. There were three Ikari Warriors games produced and this guide covers the first game. This FAQ/Walkthrough is intended for use with the NES version only. If you are playing any other version, then this guide will most likely not be of much use. Ikari Warriors for the NES can be frustrating to play so hopefully this guide will help people finish the game. You can even finish the game without dying if you follow this guide. ============================================================================= II. FAQ HISTORY ============================================================================= Version 1.00 (02/23/03) [162k] Initial release ============================================================================= III. STORY ============================================================================= (from back of game box) You and a friend are warriors with secret orders to invade an enemy nation. Working together as a team, you must fight for survival against a relentless onslaught of enemies! (my version) Paul and Vince, the Ikari Warriors have crash landed into enemy territory. Armed with only their guns and grenades, they must fight their way into the heart of the enemy's base and destroy it. ============================================================================= IV. CONTROLS ============================================================================= Basic controls ============== Up : move player up Down : move player down Left : move player left Right : move player right B : shoot A : throw grenades, enter a tank or chopper Select : select two player game Start : start game, pause/resume game A+B : exit a tank or chopper Other controls ============== Aiming in the tank ------------------ To change the direction of your aim while inside a tank, just hold down the A button and use the D-pad to change your aim in 8 different directions. Aiming in the chopper --------------------- Aiming is by pressing in the direction that you want to fire in with the D- pad and pressing B button to fire guns and A button to fire grenades/missiles. Unfortunately, aiming and moving the chopper both require the D-pad so you may want to just tap the direction instead of holding it down to limit any unnecessary movement. ============================================================================= V. GAMEPLAY ============================================================================= Objective --------- Your goal is to run through each area until you reach the end. Then repeat the process again until you have completed all 4 areas. You do not have to kill enemies along the way although survival without doing so is highly unlikely. Player status ------------- Information about your status is shown in the top left corner for the first player and the top right corner for the second player. Your current score is listed first. Below that are two numbers. The top number is the amount of grenades that you have left. The bottom number is the amount of bullets you have left. Lives ----- You start out with 3 lives. You can earn an additional life at 50,000 points and another one at 100,000 points. You will get an extra life every 100,000 points afterwards. You'll hear a tone when you get the extra life. Scoring ------- There are many ways to get points in the game. Here are the different point values awarded for different actions. Enemies are killed while objects are destroyed. *Soldier 100 points Chopper 600 points Destroying a wall/gate/door 1000 points Getting powerup 200 points Gold box 1000 points Gold clock 2000 points Gold watch 5000 points Grenade soldier 200 points Little Athena 1500-5000 points Macho man 1000 points Moving cannon 400 points Oil drum soldier 1000 points Scorpion/killer bee 200 points Super tank 1000 points Tank 800 points Task force soldier 1000 points Clearing an area will give you 10,000 x # where # is the number of the current area (i.e. area 2 gives you 20,000, area 3 30,000 and so on. If you continue playing after area 4, then finishing area 1 the second time around will get you 50,000 points. This cumulative effect will continue for every level afterwards that you complete. *"Soldier" includes red soldiers, armored soldiers, green soldiers, etc. ============================================================================= VI. ITEMS/POWERUPS ============================================================================= Weapon Powerups =============== These items will enhance your gun and grenades. They are found by killing red soldiers. B (bomb) Your grenades will cause a larger explosion area. Tank shots will similarly be upgraded to cause a larger explosion. F (fire) Your shots will now be colored red. They will not be stopped if they hit a target. They will travel over walls and other obstacles. They can even destroy stone faces and bunkers. Tank bullets will be upgraded to missiles which can travel over walls. L (long range) Your shots will go farther. S (speed) It won't make you move faster but it will make your shots move faster. Green Soldier Item ================== This item is found exclusively by killing the rare green soldiers. K (kill) All enemies currently on the screen will die. This will not work on any enemies underwater at the moment you get the K. Supply Powerups =============== These items will replenish your bullet, grenade, and fuel (for tank & chopper) supply. They are dropped by gun turrets, bunkers, blockades, enemy tanks, and fortress gates. Bullets (gun icon) Give you the max (99) bullets. Fuel (gas canister) Adds more fuel to your supply. Grenades (grenade icon) Adds 50 grenades to your supply. Secret items ============ The following items are all hidden and must be uncovered by shooting at the correct spot. Using any other attack other than bullets will not reveal the item even if you are at the correct spot. Tank shots will also work. These items only add points to your score. Gold Bars Adds 5,000 points to your score Gold Box Adds 1,000 points to your score Gold Clock Adds 2,000 points to your score Little Athena (girl) Adds 1,500, 2,500, or 5,000 points to your score Secret powerups =============== The following powerups are all hidden and must be uncovered by shooting at the correct spot. Using any other attack other than bullets will not reveal the powerup even if you are at the correct spot. Tank shots will also work. Gold Heart The ultimate powerup. It gives you the B, F, L, and S powerups. You also get the hidden powerups like SS, knife, and heart. Your ammo will also be fully replenished. H (super fuel) Refills both grenades and bullets to max values (99). You will get 200 seconds of fuel for the tanks. Heart (retain items) You will not lose the powerups that you have if you die. This only applies to the first death after you get this item. If you die a second time afterwards, then you will lose all of your powerups. Getting multiple hearts will not cause a cumulative effect (i.e. you will still lose your items after more than one death even if you get more than one heart). You will lose your items if you lose your last life and then resume play via the continue code. Knife You can kill enemies by touching them. Will also allow you to touch otherwise deadly objects like blockades. The explosions from their destruction can still kill you though. Special enemies like the macho men will no longer kill you by contact but you will not kill them either. Lasers will not kill you either. SS (super speed) You move faster. Triple Shot (3 dots) Lets you fire three shots out in three directions at once. All other powerups to your gun (F, L, S) will be cancelled out. Vehicles ======== You can acquire two vehicles to use against the enemy. They both operate on fuel and will self destruct when the fuel supply runs out. Tanks can be found lying around and by destroying other enemy tanks. Choppers can only be found lying around. Chopper Bullet proof and flies over enemies. It can fire shots in three directions or shoot tank shots (missiles). It is vulnerable to everything except bullets, normal soldiers, and other choppers. Things like land mines, self destruct soldiers, and explosions will destroy the chopper even though you would think that you would be able to fly over them. The chopper will self destruct if it runs out of fuel. Tank Bullet proof and can run over enemies. Shots are based on your grenade total. It is vulnerable to everything except for bullets (both regular and F bullets). The tank will self destruct if it runs out of fuel. ============================================================================= VII. ENEMIES ============================================================================= All enemies listed have been assigned unofficial names by me. These names will be used throughout this FAQ to refer to each individual enemy. Blue Soldiers ============= There are a lot of different blue soldiers so here are the different kinds you can encounter. Coward Soldiers These guys run at you and then run away when you get too close. They do not fire any shots. FL Soldiers These guys are powered up with fire bullets that travel long distances. Flame Thrower Soldiers These guys sit and fire flames out at you. They will become grenade soldiers if you walk past them. Fortress Soldiers These guys stand still and wait to toss B-grenades at you if you get too close. Primarily positioned in fortress areas, these guys can also be found outside of fortresses. Grenade Soldiers These guys will walk around after you and toss grenades at you. Homing Missile Soldiers These guys fire missiles that come after you. They will become grenade soldiers if you walk past them. Kamikaze Soldiers These guys will chase after you until you die. They walk in slow strides and will follow you in the water even. They will kill themselves and you by touching you. They can dive underwater too. Missile Soldiers These guys are armed with missile launchers and fire them at you if you get near. They will become grenade soldiers if you walk past them. Regular Soldiers These guys run around randomly firing. Self Destruct Soldiers These guys look like regular soldiers but will self destruct if you get too close. They tend to walk diagonally towards you and pause in their walk. They can dive underwater too. Stationary Shooters These guys stand in one spot and fire shots spread out in different directions without stop. Other Enemies ============= Armored Fortress Guards Dressed in white body armor. Throws B-grenades at you. Armored L Soldiers Dressed in white body armor and fires long range lasers. Armored Missile Soldiers Dressed in white body armor and fires missiles out while chasing after you. Armored Soldiers Dressed in white body armor and fires lasers out. Black Soldiers Dressed all in black. Has no special powers and can be treated like regular blue soldiers. Dead Body The "boss" of the third mission. It is a corpse that sits at a desk. Destroy it to uncover a secret. Fake Paul and Fake Vince These are soldiers disguised to look like you. Fake Red Soldier This guy looks just like a real red soldier. However, he leaves no item behind. He'll also just stand stationary for a bit and just look around. Green Soldier These guys are rare and act like red soldiers. They leave behind only one specific item. Killer Bees Blue bees that fly at you Macho Men These guys move up and down, left and right swinging their clubs. Oil Drum Soldiers Hides inside steel oil drums and will shoot fire bullets out. Red Soldiers These guys move a few feet, pause, and then move again. They will also fire shots out. They leave items behind when killed. Scorpions Will try to sting you. Skull Face Final enemy that is a big face against a wall. It spits out red orbs that explode like B-grenades. Task Force Soldiers These guys have shields to protect against bullets. They move around like the macho men and also take two grenades to kill. Enemy Vehicles/Hazards/Structures ================================= Arrow Cannons Camouflaged to match the jungle terrain, this weapon fires arrows out. Blockades Small obstacle marked with a small skull and crossbones. Rigged to explode on contact. Brown Tanks A slow moving tank that fires either regular shots or missiles. Bunkers Marked with a skull and crossbones, this stone building will fire shots out in three directions. Choppers A green chopper that fires three shots in a spread. Fortress Gates Giant doors that block progress through a fort. Lined with explosives that explode on contact. Green Tanks A faster version of the brown tank. Gun Turrets Small gun installations that fire shots out in a spread pattern. Homing Sensors A small detector that blinks will appear if you get within range. Shortly afterwards, a missile will be fired at the spot that is blinking. The missile will only fire if the detector is on screen for a few seconds. A missile that has been fired cannot be stopped. The time before a missile comes out varies between sensors. Land Mines Small gray boxes marked with "X"'s that explode on contact. Mines can also be found in the water. They will move towards the player while in water. Missiles If you take too long to move the screen forward, missiles will be fired at you. This is useful to get out of places that you get stuck in like walls or other obstacles. Moving Cannons Small cannon that moves along ceiling or floor tracks. Skull Doors Giant doors marked with a skull and crossbones that block progress through a fortress. Some doors are fake and will not open even after you destroy them. Stone Faces These rock carvings will fire three arrows out if you get too close. Super Tanks The most powerful tank of them all. These will fire larger shots which explode with B-grenade power. They also take twice the damage to destroy as opposed to regular tanks. Yellow Tanks Can move or be stationary. Moving ones are identical to brown tanks. Stationary ones fire missiles. ============================================================================= VIII. WALKTHROUGH ============================================================================= How to use this walkthrough =========================== This walkthrough will guide you through the entire game from start to finish. I will be using strategies according to how I play the game. This does not mean that I always take the best path possible although I try to. The walkthrough is divided into the four main areas. Each area is further subdivided into its different gates. You'll know that you are at a gate because the music changes. I assume that the reader already is familiar with the controls of the game (see section "Controls") so I will not spend time explaining the controls. I also strongly advise that the reader be familiar with the enemies in the game (see section "Enemies"). There is no official name for the enemies but I refer to the different types constantly and it will be necessary to know my naming convention in order to follow the strategy correctly. While dying is almost inevitable, it is possible albeit very difficult, to finish the game without dying at all. The strategies that I use don't depend on having a powered up character although having one will make surviving and hence winning a whole lot easier. The walkthrough is intended to be used for one player games but it can be adapted for use with two players too. Just follow the same strategy but make minor changes here and there like sharing a vehicle (see "Secrets" section below on how to share a vehicle). The second player should make it easier since there is another person killing soldiers. This walkthrough is intended to be read from start to finish so I can't guarantee that all the strategies will work if you don't follow it from start to finish. Use as little/much as you need. Forward movement ---------------- Since the game encourages you to always be moving the screen forward, I expect the user to also do be moving at a reasonable rate. Reasonable in this case means that you do not wait for the missiles to be fired although there are some cases where this cannot be avoided. Hidden Items ------------ There are many hidden items in the game and I will try my best to find them all. It is to be expected that I may have missed some hidden items so do not be worried if you unexpectedly find a hidden item that is not covered in the walkthrough. Notation/Terminology -------------------- Since the entire game is played with you moving north, I won't say to move north or move up all the time. I may say to "move forward" which should be interpreted as moving north. When I refer state to move to the left, right, and center, I am talking about moving east or west. Movement going north and south will only scroll the screen forward. Destroying enemy tanks will sometimes yield tanks that you can enter. These tank appearances are random. I assume that the reader knows to enter them when they appear and only if necessary (i.e. don't enter a tank if you already have one). ############################## ## Area 1 ## ############################## Start ===== Your plane has just crashed. Ok, it's time for Paul and Vince, our Ikari Warriors, to fight their way through enemy territory. Start your mission with your guns blazing if you want. Just head up. You don't have to shoot enemies yet because they don't shoot and will run away after getting too close to you. These are known as coward soldiers. You'll soon come to an enemy gun turret towards the left side. It will be firing a stream of three bullets. You should be able to see a safe spot to stand in between the middle and right shots that it fires. Stand there and toss a grenade to destroy the turret. Watch out for enemy soldiers now because the regular soldiers will shoot at you. Shoot them if they get too close for comfort. The turret drops grenades. Pick it up and continue forward. Start shooting enemies that you encounter. While only one or two will fire at you, it is best that you get accustomed to shooting enemies quickly and efficiently now. They may not all be firing for the time being, but they will be soon enough so it's important to get as much practice as you can. Try to be able to fire in three directions quickly just like the gun turret did. Mastering this tactic will keep you alive longer. Keep going up and you'll soon see two tanks. Enter one of them (press the A button when you are on top of the tank). Tanks need fuel to run so that is shown by the gas tank icon below the grenades. The number is how many seconds you have before the tank runs out of gas. In Ikari Warriors, running out of fuel will cause tanks to self destruct. Therefore, you will need to grab fuel canisters along the way to keep yourself from running out of gas. Tanks are bullet-proof and can run over soldiers. However, they are vulnerable to everything else ranging from grenades, mines, missiles, and flames to arrows and explosions. Now that you are in a tank, you can destroy the other one for points if you wish (or to keep the second player from getting a tank). I'll assume that you are in a tank for the next few areas. While it isn't necessary for you to be in one, you will tend to live longer and get farther than you would without one. Now move up and you'll see a red soldier. These guys will drop powerup items if you kill them directly. This can be done either by firing at, grenading, or running them over. They will not drop anything if they die from a secondary attack such as the explosion from a destroyed gun turret. The red soldiers will run away if they get too close to you. Fire at them before this happens. They will always run north. This can be used to your advantage by positioning yourself above them and then turning around and firing as they run at you. This is more of a show-off move rather than being particularly useful. Kill the red soldier before he runs away. He will drop an F. Get it to upgrade your shots so that they now go over walls and other obstacles. They won't stop after hitting a target. They can even destroy gun turrets and bunkers. Your tank shells will also be upgraded to missiles. Move to the right side now. Head up. You'll soon see another red soldier. He also drops an F. Move up and you'll see a bunker. Destroy it with grenades or tank shells. It will leave fuel behind. Be careful not to run your tank into the explosion. Get the fuel. Right after the fuel will be a green soldier. He will appear and run away quickly so shoot him when he appears. He'll drop a K behind. Grab it to kill everyone on the screen which should be a total of four soldiers. This takes out the two flame thrower soldiers on the left side. Now head up and you'll see a blue soldier run down at you. Kill him quickly because he is a grenade soldier. Move towards him if you are in a tank to avoid the grenades. Move up and you'll face two red soldiers. They drop an S and an L respectively. S will increase your shots' speed while L makes your shots long range. Now head up the middle and fire while doing so. You'll face a few grenade soldiers. You'll come to a stone face. It will fire arrows out if you get too close. Never stand directly in front of it or the center arrow that it fires will hit you. Stand to one side of its mouth. Then move close enough that it starts firing arrows. The arrows will miss. Now destroy the face by firing from the tank or by tossing a grenade. Right past the face will be a tank that you can use. Be careful when approaching this tank because there are two land mines placed in front of it. They are designed to kill you and to destroy the tank with their explosions. Walk around the mines and enter the tank. Head up and you'll face a brown tank. It will move left and right while firing shots at you. You should have the advantage since you picked up the long range powerup. Fire from the tank or toss a grenade to destroy it. Get the fuel that it drops. Head up again and you'll run into a bunker. Destroy it and get the fuel it leaves behind. Continue forward to run into a red soldier. He drops an L. Now there should be a red soldier approaching you from the right. Move up enough until he is directly to your right side. Now turn your aim to the right (hold A button and press the D-pad in different directions) and wait for him to come to you. Fire when he gets close enough. He'll drop an S. Readjust your aim north and continue forward. You'll see a bridge with two stationary shooters on it. A red soldier appears from the north. He drops an F behind. Now don't bother adjusting your aim. Keep it aimed north and just run over the soldiers on the bridge. Then head across the bridge to the north. Keep going until you hit the water. Now to the left will be a red soldier moving towards you. Quickly turn your aim left and let the soldier approach. Kill him when he gets out of the water and back on land. He'll drop a B. Grab it. B-grenades are very powerful. Now you have a fairly powerful character. Fire at the gun turret from afar to destroy it. It leaves bullets behind. Now to the left of the gun turret is a flame thrower soldier. Shoot him from a safe distance. Don't pass him or he'll become a grenade soldier and chase after you. Now head up across the suspension bridge. Stay in the center of the bridge to avoid the land mines to the right side. Keep firing away as you move. Your B-grenades and missiles will take out all comers. You'll kill some red soldiers while doing this. They'll drop an F and a B. You'll then see a blockade at the end of the bridge. Destroy it to find some bullets and grenades. Head up and you'll face kamikaze soldiers. Kill them as soon as possible because they will not run away if they get near. Actually, they will pursue you until they ultimately kill both you and themselves by touching you. Some of them even fire shots as they chase you. You'll fight a red soldier afterwards. He drops an S. Continue forward and you'll run into missile soldiers. Take them out from a distance. Then head forward and you'll see the first fortress gate. There are two fortress soldiers on either side of the gate. They are armed with B-grenades and will use them if you get too close. Their attack range is just smaller than your grenade range so get close to them and grenade them. Your powered up tank should have no problem taking them out. Never attack the fortress soldiers diagonally unless you have no other choice because their diagonal attack range is greater than your diagonal grenade's range. Take out the gate once the fortress soldiers are dead. You can simply run through it with a tank. Don't stop or you'll get caught in the explosion. The safer and preferred method is to toss a grenade or fire from the tank. The gate leaves bullets and grenades behind. Head on up through gate 1. Gate 1 ====== Now above you is a bunker and a tank that you can enter. Take out the bunker first. It leaves fuel behind. Then enter the tank even if you already have one because it will start off with a fresh tank of gas. Head up and you'll see a green tank. This tank is an upgraded version of the brown tank that you encountered earlier because it moves a lot faster. It still fires the same shots but these shots can still kill you so quickly move backward once it appears. You should be able to avoid getting hit. Now get within grenade range and destroy the tank. Then continue forward. Watch out for a land mine near the water. Now head up on the land until you see the next green tank. It will be moving across a bridge. Take it out fast. Now you'll see two tanks on the left side that you can enter. Don't get too anxious yet. Go across the bridge and you'll see a bunker. Take the bunker out first before you enter the tanks. It leaves fuel behind that is just perfect for the tanks. There is a catch to the fuel though. A homing sensor is placed near the location of the fuel. The sensor will summon a homing missile very quickly so grab the fuel and then move backwards. You will be able to avoid the missile's explosion. Now get back to the right side by using the bridge. Head up and you'll encounter a brown tank. Destroy it. Head up a little more to fight another brown tank from the left side. Get out of its range and destroy it from a safe distance. What looks like a red soldier will appear as well. This is actually fake red soldier. He is fake because he leaves no item behind and dies like all the other soldiers (i.e. body flies away). Continue forward and you'll see three real red soldiers. They drop an S and two L's respectively. The red soldiers are accompanied by grenade soldiers so take out the grenade soldiers first. Letting the red soldiers escape is better than losing a tank simply because you didn't kill the grenade soldier first. Head up and you face more grenade soldiers. Take them out quickly. Now stay in the center of the screen. You should hear a "choop" sound as you head up. Then a super tank appears. This piece of heavy artillery will fire B-shells out. It will take two regular grenades/tank shots or one B-grenade to defeat the super tank. Stay out of its firing path and quickly destroy it. You'll need to time your grenades throws here because the tank moves pretty fast. Continue up and you'll see a fortress soldier to the left. I recommend that you kill him because he'll be a nuisance later. Now head up and you'll be at the foot of the second gate. Deal with it like before by taking out the fortress soldiers first. Then destroy the gate to get fuel. Now above you are two soldiers, one on each side. They are both self destruct soldiers so kill them fast or they will explode when they get near you. This applies even if you are in a tank so just kill them. I suggest killing the right side one first because he is closer than the left side one. Now there is another gate to destroy. Take it out the same way as usual by killing off the fortress guards first and the gate later. You should be starting to get the hang of it now. I shouldn't have to remind you that the fortress guards are armed with B-grenades but I'll do so anyway. Get the fuel that the gate leaves behind. Then go up through gate 2. Gate 2 ====== Head up and you'll see three rocks in a triangle formation. Do not, I repeat, do not go to the left side of the center rock. There is a homing sensor placed between the left and center rocks that will kill you if you charge in there. Go either to the far left side or the right side instead. You'll now see a bunker. Just destroy it while being careful to avoid activating the homing sensor. The bunker leaves behind bullets and fuel. There is a homing sensor placed by the bullets and fuel so be extra careful as you grab it. Stick to the right side and head up until you see a blockade by a bridge. Don't blow it up yet. Move up until you see a red soldier appear. Now wait for him to walk past the blockade before shooting him. If you had destroyed the blockade, the red soldier would have died via a secondary effect (the blockade's explosion) and would not have dropped anything. The soldier leaves an F behind. The blockade drops bullets. Continue forward again. Watch out for the soldiers in the area as a few of them are kamikaze soldiers. You should be able to tell them apart from the other blue soldiers by the way they walk. Another red soldier will appear as you head forward. Kill him for a B. Now head across the bridge and destroy the bunker at the left side. You'll get grenades and fuel. There's a homing sensor planted under the fuel so don't stop moving after you pick it up. There are a few kamikaze soldiers that will appear from the left side so take them out. If you still have the tank, you have to get out now. Do so only when you've taken out the enemies on the screen. Then go to the center of the screen and try to stay to the right side. Head up and you'll see two self destruct soldiers swimming diagonally to you from both sides. You can only kill them if they surface for air so make your shots count. Quickly take them both out with grenades and/or shots. I personally kill the left soldier by shooting diagonally at him. Then I quickly move to the right so that the right soldier is directly to my north and shoot him then. If you fail to kill them before they get within self destruct range then you will die unless you have the super speed (SS) powerup. Continue forward after you kill them. Keep moving to avoid the land mines that are following you. Now in the center is a stationary shooter. Stand to the right side of his center line of fire and toss a grenade to kill him. It may be difficult to do with the mine chasing you so first get past the mine before you try to get to the shooter's right side. Now above you is a gray chopper. Do NOT grenade it or you will destroy a valuable vehicle and the easiest way to beat the next part. Approach it from the chopper's direct south. There are two land mines placed around the chopper. If the mines explode, then kiss that chopper goodbye. You will avoid the mines if you approached from the direct south. Don't forget to keep firing shots (but not grenades) to defend against oncoming enemy soldiers. Enter the chopper (press the A button) after you get to it. You have 28 seconds of fuel. Now head forward and do not stop for anything and I mean ANYTHING! Do not engage the enemy. Do not blow up enemy choppers or you'll be destroyed in their explosion. Do not touch land mines because they can still kill you even if you're in a chopper. Do not destroy the bunkers because they don't provide fuel (the first one has bullets and grenades while the second one has nothing). Just keep pressing UP to head forward and B to keep firing. Don't press A or you might accidentally destroy an enemy chopper and get caught in the subsequent explosion. You can safely touch enemy choppers so just fly through them. You'll encounter 4 red soldiers as you fly up. They drop two B's and two F's between them. You will kill the first two as you fly up because they are in your flight path. As you can see, you would have had to fight your way through hordes of stationary shooters if you didn't have the chopper. If you don't have the chopper then slowly kill the stationary shooters one by one and move slowly. Keep flying up and you'll then see a green soldier. Do not kill him yet. Just keep flying up and you'll chase after him. Try to fly northeast (press UP and RIGHT) until you are directly behind him. You'll eventually see land. Kill the soldier the second you see land or you can wait until you see the first fortress wall but it's not necessary to wait that long. Then fly up but don't get the K that the soldier dropped. Head up and you'll see two stationary shooters. Stop and get the K when you see them. You will probably take out everyone. If a kamikaze soldier avoided the K by staying underwater, then quickly touch him with the chopper or shoot him. Then get out and away from the chopper before it self destructs. Destroy the gate and you'll get bullets and grenades. Then head through gate 3. Gate 3 ====== Head forward and you'll see a tank. Two red soldiers attack you. Don't use grenades or you'll destroy the tank. Shoot the left one first. Then run south. The right soldier should get caught in the fortress wall. Now shoot him if you have fire bullets. Grenade him if and only if you have regular grenades. B-grenades will destroy the tank. Now get the F and B that the soldiers dropped. Enter the tank quickly because two more red soldiers will attack you. Kill them to get another F and another B. Head up along the center of the screen and fire away as you move. You'll destroy two brown tanks that appear near the center of the screen. Now try not to lose the tank because you are armed with B-missiles which will make this next part very easy to pass. Head up and you'll see another brown tank. Destroy it from a distance. The buildings on the left and right sides each have boarded up doorways. You can destroy the doorways with tank shots or grenades. This will get you points but is otherwise unnecessary. Head up again and another brown tank engages you. Destroy this one and continue moving. You'll see two stationary shooters on both sides. They can't do anything to you since you're inside a tank. So ignore them and move up to fight another brown tank. Destroy it. Then turn your aim on the two stationary shooters and shoot them to not only kill them but also to destroy the boarded doorways. Now move to the far right side and head up. A brown tank will appear towards the right side. You should be out of its firing path as long as you don't get too close to it. Wait for an opening and fire when you see it. Now move to the center but slightly to the right. Head up and a brown tank comes down the center of the screen. Back up and destroy it. Then move up a little and another brown tank appears. Take it out and get the fuel that it drops. Now get in the center of the screen and fire away continuously as you move. You'll eventually fight 3 brown tanks that appear in the center of the screen. Firing away continuously will let you kill them all without getting shot at. Now go left until you are next to the grass that is to the right of the left building's shadow. If that sounds confusing, then just leave a space that is a little more than half the width of your tank between yourself and the left building's shadow. Head up. Fire away if you want but don't waste all of your ammo. You'll soon see a green tank roll out at you. Quickly take it down before it can fire a shot. Don't get caught in the explosion though. Do not move up anymore or you'll scroll the screen forward. Go right and stand one tank width away from the right building. Now you must have B-powered shots or this next trick won't work. If you don't have B-grenades then just slowly move forward and take each tank out one by one. Otherwise, head up and fire away with your tank. Do not stop moving. You'll destroy another green tank. Keep moving up and firing. A second green tank appears. However, it gets caught in the your shots' explosions is destroyed. Keep moving and a third tank appears. Now the second tank's explosion will catch this tank and destroy it in a chain reaction. Continue moving up and a fourth tank appears. It will get caught in the third tank's explosion and be destroyed as well. Head up and you'll see four stone faces. Destroy them all and get the fuel in the middle. Stay to the left side of the screen and continue forward to find yourself in front of what I call "the gauntlet." This next area has arrow cannons on one side and fortress guards all armed with B-grenades on the other. As if that wasn't enough, homing sensors and land mines are scattered around in the area as well. Start by going to the left side of the screen if you're not already there. Then move forward until you pass the firing path of the arrow cannon to the right. You will safely pass by before an arrow is even fired. You'll also activate two homing sensors while doing so but ignore them and move up until you are out of the arrow cannon's firing path. Stop moving up when you activate a homing sensor near the left arrow cannon. Now move right until you are in the center of the screen. The homing sensor to the left should have been deactivated. Move a little more to the right if it is not. Now the left arrow cannon is firing arrows by now. Move up until you are as close to the arrow's firing path as possible. Then wait for it to pass by and immediately move up when it does. You should just barely pass by. If you are still in a tank then just keep moving up. As long as you stay in the center and keep moving up, you should be able to pass by the rest of the arrow cannons. You'll activate homing sensors while doing so but ignore them. This works for the most part but if you are worried or are not in a tank then you'll need to move up and pass each arrow cannon one at a time. You can also stand in the shadows to avoid the arrows but that requires you to kill the soldiers guarding the shadows. You'll soon see two red soldiers appear to the right. Do not chase after them. Their purpose is to lure you into the fortress soldiers' B-grenades. They drop an S and L but it is not worth it. Just keep moving up the center until you clear the range of the left fortress guard's attack range. Then move to the left side until you are next to the far left wall. Head up and you'll activate a homing sensor by a triangular wall to the north. The missile comes out almost immediately after you activate the sensor so quickly move through the opening to the left and up past the wall. You'll avoid the missile if you were close to the left side and reacted quickly. Before you head up, you can go right and shoot the shadows by the far right wall to find a hidden knife. You'll notice that there is a wide area of shadow under the wall running horizontally and a very narrow strip of shadow by the far right wall running vertically. The knife is below the wider area of shadow. Shoot that narrow strip to find it. The knife will be most useful against kamikaze soldiers because it lets you kill enemies by touching them. It is also one of the rare hidden items in this level. Now head up and watch out for another homing missile by the wall. You'll now see flame thrower soldiers above you and a tank to the right. Kill the soldiers first. You're probably at 50 fuel or less by now so I recommend switching to the new tank to get a full tank of gas. Head up and a gun turret is in your way. Destroy it to get bullets. Then proceed up to a suspension bridge. Keep firing away to kill all the troops that come. You'll also kill some red soldiers. They leave two S's and two L's behind. At the end of the bridge is an enemy chopper. Be careful not to get caught in its explosion as you destroy it. Then head up and you'll face two super tanks. Stay to the side of one of the tank's firing path. This will keep both tanks firing directly south. Now fire away if you're in a tank or use grenades if you're on foot. Destroy one tank before working on the other. Head up once you've destroyed them both. You'll see a fortress. There are two fortress guards on the right side but only one on the left side. Take out the left fortress guard out. Then scroll the screen up until you see the gate. Stay to the left side and slowly head up until you hit the north wall. Then turn your aim northeast and fire at the gate when you get close enough. Fuel is left behind. Head through the gate. You may activate a homing missile while doing so but only if you were far back from the gate. This shouldn't happen but I'm warning you just in case. Gate 4 ====== Head up and ignore the soldiers since they don't shoot. You'll see one soldier just standing in the center of the screen. That is a fortress guard. He's armed with B-grenades and will use them if you get close enough. Take him out carefully. Then continue forward to find a bunker. Destroy it. You'll get the usual bullets and grenades. Then go up and there are two tanks for the taking. Homing sensors are planted near each tank. Do not get the tanks unless you don't have one. If you already are in a tank, then just go the far left side around the rocks and skip them. If you have to take a tank, then get the left one because a homing sensor activates if you take the right one. Head up and you'll find a bunker and a missile soldier. Destroy the bunker to get bullets and grenades. The missile soldier will die from the bunker's explosion. Now a red soldier appears. Kill him for an F. Head up and two soldiers appear on either side of the topmost rock. These are both self destruct soldiers. They can destroy tanks so kill them quickly. I recommend retreating backwards and then moving left to kill the left soldier. Then turn your aim northeast to take out the right one. Head up to the water's edge next. A kamikaze soldier will appear. Don't bother wasting ammo on him. Just let him run into your tank and he'll kill himself. This is a handy little trick that will save you from many a soldier. Now get out of the tank and head up. Do not scroll the tank off the bottom of the screen. Another kamikaze soldier comes at you. You probably already knew that since he was diving underwater. Well just run back to your tank and get in. Let the soldier walk right to his death. Then get out and head up the middle. Take out soldiers that get too close for comfort or are in your attack radius. If you have B-grenades, then use them. You'll soon be attacked by a self destruct soldier from the northwest. Turn your aim diagonally northwest and take him out. Then head up again. Two more self destruct soldiers will appear, this time from the right side. Adjust your aim and shoot and grenade them. Then head up again and a kamikaze soldier attacks from the center. Kill him and then continue forward. You'll see two arrow cannons in front of a fortress. Move near the first arrow cannon until it fires. Then get your head close enough to the arrows' firing path and wait. Let an arrow pass and then immediately run past the firing path. You should make it without major problem. Now grenade the gate to destroy it. It leaves bullets and grenades behind. Then move up and pass the other arrow cannon when you see the opportunity arise. Gate 5 ====== Head up slowly. Keep moving slowly until you see a self destruct soldier appear. Now run back and hide behind the left fortress wall. The soldier will get stuck against the wall where you can safely grenade him. Head up slowly until you see another self destruct soldier appear. A fake red soldier will also appear. Ignore the red soldier and run back behind the right fortress wall. The self destruct soldier will also get caught against the wall. Grenade him and then move up again. A kamikaze soldier will appear. Take him out quickly. Then stay in the middle and head up to face one more self destruct soldier. Quickly shoot or grenade him. Now move to the far right side of the screen. Then head up. A lot of coward soldiers will appear but ignore them. Keep moving up. You'll see an arrow cannon to the left. You'll also see a kamikaze soldier appear from the center. However, since you were at the far right side, he'll get himself caught against the rock in the water. Now grenade him from a safe distance. Then head up the rock's right side to avoid the arrows. You'll see a self destruct soldier appear from the center. Quickly run back and stand south of the rock when you see the soldier. If done correctly, he will be caught against the rock where you can safely grenade him. Stand against the far right side again and head up. Another self destruct soldier will appear from the far right side. Stop moving and just keep firing north at him. You will kill him before he gets close enough to explode. Continue going forward. You'll soon encounter another self destruct soldier. This one approaches from the left side. Adjust your aim, stop, wait, and fire away. You should be able to take him out. Then head up the middle. You'll see a tank to the left and a gun turret in the middle. Destroy the gun turret first. Get the bullets it leaves. Then enter the tank and go across the suspension bridge. Keep firing as you go. You'll take out two red soldiers who drop an L and an F behind. Don't stop moving as you go across the bridge because it is rigged with two homing sensors that detonate soon after you activate them. You'll now be facing a lot of blue soldiers and red soldiers. Some of the blue soldiers are grenade soldiers and some are kamikaze soldiers so fire away at them all. Shoot the ones far away while you move left or right to dodge the grenades. Run over the ones closer to you. The red soldiers will drop an L and an F each. Head up and you'll see red fortress walls. This means you're almost at the end of area 1. Don't get careless now. Take out the fortress guards on both sides. Then head up to the gate and kill the guards around the gate. Destroy the gate to find fuel. Head up through it. Gate 6 ====== You'll see another gate and another fortress guard. A brown tank lies in wait behind the gate but it can't reach you. You can reach it though. First take out the guard by standing against the south gate wall and tossing a grenade at him. Then destroy the gate for some grenades. Now stand against the north fortress wall and toss a grenade at the tank. It will reach the tank and destroy it. Now head up. There are two more fortress guards and another gate. Take out the right guard first. Then kill the left one. Take out the gate last. Head up and you'll see another guard, another gate, and another brown tank. However, this tank is armed with missiles meaning that it can hit you over the wall. You'll need to be extra careful. I suggest moving to the left side and taking out the tank first. Then kill the fortress guard. Take out the gate last. Get the bullets it leaves behind. Head up to find yet another gate and another pair of fortress guards. Take them out like usual and head on up through the gate. A gun turret blocks your path. Clear it away with some grenades or tank shots. Then head up. Another gate and three fortress guards stand in your way. Kill the lower left guard first. Then take out the ones around the gate. Destroy the gate. Now look to the right and you should spot a patch of grass below the right wall. Shoot that patch to find a hidden heart. This heart will let you retain your powerups after one death. Now go through the gate and pick up the fuel on the way. You'll face fortress guards on both sides. To the north are two stationary shooters. If you have a tank then simply stay in the direct center of the area and run up to the end of the level. Don't worry about the gate. Just run through it with the tank. You'll escape the explosion. If you are not in the dead center of the area then the fortress guards on either side will be able to hit you with their grenades. If you don't have a tank then it will be a lot harder to pass this area. You'll want to take out the two stationary shooters. Doing so requires a hit and run tactic. We'll take out the left one first. What you will be doing is to stand next to his firing path, run up, and grenade him. As you run up, the left guard will toss a grenade at you. Your grenade should have been tossed before the guard tossed his. Now you'll turn away from the fortress guard and run away to avoid the grenade explosion. You will get away if you had perfect timing. This is not easy to do so don't be surprised if you die. Now that you know what to do, here's how to do it. First, look at the mines rigged in front of the gate to the north. You'll see three mines. Stand under the center mine. Now study the left stationary shooter's firing range and note the safe spot between the center and right bullet streams. You are going to move in a circle going clockwise from the spot you are at now. Throw your grenade during this clockwise movement. You should be able to hit the shooter with your grenade and escape the wrath of the left fortress guard. Now let's deal with the other stationary shooter. Stand to the left of his center line of fire. Now you will move up in an counterclockwise circle. Toss your grenade during this movement. You should be able to take out the shooter and escape the right fortress guard's grenade explosion. Now that the opposition is dead, just stay in the center of the area and head up. You'll activate a homing sensor. Toss a grenade at the gate and then retreat to avoid the missile that comes. The missile will hit very soon so get back. Then head up through the gate to finish area 1 and get 10,000 bonus points. You should have 100,000 points or more if you didn't continue yet. ############################## ## Area 2 ## ############################## Start ===== You'll begin area 2 without any powerups unless you grabbed a heart from area 1. If you didn't have a heart when you finished area 1, then say goodbye to your powerups. If you did grab a heart, you will keep everything but you'll lose everything if you die once. Therefore, proceed carefully until you find another heart. If you had nothing when you finished the last mission, then the loss isn't so bad but still be on guard as you proceed. You'll be in the center of a rock formation. Head up and you'll see a brown tank. It will approach you from near the center of the passage. Grenade it and move on. You'll fight another tank that appears close to the center. Destroy it and stand on the path that the tank was moving along. Then take a few steps forward. You'll encounter a red soldier that appears on the same path as the last brown tank. Kill him to get an L. Continue forward and you'll fight a handful of regular soldiers. Kill them or avoid them. Then keep moving along. You can destroy the doorways of the buildings on either side for points but that is up to you. Now get ready. Two red soldiers will appear from the center as you pass by the doorways of the buildings. Killing both of them will not be necessary because they each drop B's. Just kill the one closest to you. Watch out for their shots because they will kill you if you aren't prepared. Now head up and you'll see two missile soldiers guarding a gun turret. Do not approach or even get near the left one because he is a homing missile soldier. He fires missiles that chase after you and are almost impossible to outrun. He will fire them only if you get near him so keep away. B-grenade him if you have them otherwise just go to the right side and take out the regular missile soldier. Then destroy the gun turret from an angle or stand to the right side and grenade from there. Head forward and you'll change the homing missile soldier into a grenade soldier. Now he is less of a threat so kill him. Then get the bullets left by the gun turret. Head up across the suspension bridge. You'll face the usual coward soldiers as you head across. Stay in the center of the bridge to avoid land mines. You'll hear a "choop" sound as you get near the first mine. That should clue you in on what you'll be facing next. A super tank will appear as you pass the second mine. Quickly move to one side to avoid its shot. Then you'll notice four gray bars on the screen. Stay below the bottom two gray bars and you won't get run over by the super tank. Now just grenade away to destroy it. Then continue forward across the bridge. Stay on the right side of the bridge. You'll soon activate a land mine on the left side of the bridge. Keep moving up until you are directly to the right of the mine (or between the middle set of the bridge's suspension cables). Then an enemy chopper will appear left of the bridge. Do not move and let it pass by you. It will fire a round of shots at you but they will miss and the chopper will fly harmlessly by. Now keep an eye on the last pair of bridge suspension cables (the gray wires connecting the wooden bridge and the long brown poles). Another chopper will appear right as you get next to the last pair of cables. Now that you know when it will appear, here's how to defeat it. Just toss a grenade right as you pass the cables. It should land square on the chopper if you threw it at the right moment. Now head up and you'll see two soldiers underwater rushing towards you. B-grenades will serve you well here if you have them. Kill the left one first because he is a self destruct soldier. Then quickly kill the right one because he is a kamikaze soldier. Ignore the fake red soldier. Now stand above the left gray bar. Then look at the top edge of the ground. You'll notice that it is primarily flat and then it curves inward at the far left side. Shoot the ground south of this curve to uncover a hidden knife. Now head into the water. Stay in the center of the screen. You'll face some regular soldiers. You'll soon see a soldier approaching you from beneath the water. He is a self destruct soldier but since you were already in the center of the screen, killing him should be easy. Keep heading down the center. You'll come across a red soldier that appears in the center. Shoot him to get an L. Then you'll see a bunker to the left. Head over to it and grenade it. It leaves bullets and grenades behind. Now you'll be on dry land again. Follow it as it winds to the right side. There are some green trees on the right side. Stand next to them and head up. Keep your eyes on the green patch of grass (it's bigger than the smaller green spots) above you. A green tank will attack you as you pass the green patch. Head back to it as the tank appears. That spot is safe from the tank's shots. Now destroy the tank with a grenade and then head up. Skip the first wooden bridge because there's a homing sensor placed at the bridge's left end. You'll see two blockades. Destroy them both to get bullets, grenades, and fuel. A red soldier will appear as you get the items. He is the most dangerous foe in the immediate area because of his firing rate. He drops an F. Some of the soldiers in the river are kamikaze soldiers so take them out. You'll know it's them because of their erratic walking pattern. Hopefully you still have the knife powerup from earlier. Kill them off and go to the right side before you head up. A chopper appears on the left side. It can't reach you so move along. Keep going up and you'll see a soldier swimming towards you under the water. He's a self destruct soldier so I recommend that you stop moving once you see him. Then turn, aim, and keep firing. Doing this will improve your chances of killing him. Now take a few steps over to the left so that you're not directly against the far right edge of the screen. Head up and another self destruct soldier appears. You won't have much time to kill him so I hope that your aim is good. Continue forward and you'll see a red soldier. Just watch out for his shots and grenade or shoot him. He'll drop a B behind. Keep heading north and you'll fight another self destruct soldier. You should be very familiar with the tactics used to defeat him by now which is to simply kill him as quickly as possible. If you haven't already noticed, there is more than one angle that you can fire at when you face diagonally. There is the typical 45 degree shot and a steeper 60 degree shot. Being able to adjust quickly for each will be a lifesaver. Hopefully you haven't moved too far up that you can see a soldier on the fortress wall to the left. If so, then you should be able to see the start of the fortress wall to the left. If you don't see it, then move up slowly until you do. Eventually you should be able to spot pipes on the right side of the wall. Stand directly south of these pipes and head up. You'll see what appears to be a fortress guard. However, he is not a fortress guard. No, he's more dangerous because he's an FL soldier. What's an FL soldier? Well, FL soldiers are equipped with F and L powerups so their shots are red like yours after you grab the F powerup and long-range thanks to the L powerup. Don't worry about the F powerup that these soldiers have because it only takes 1 shot to kill you anyway. Tanks are able to stop these bullets so the F powerup does them no good in that case. The good news is that the firing rate of FL soldiers is slow and they only fire single shots at a time. Since you stood under the pipes, you will be safe from his line of fire. Simply get within grenade range and let him have it. Then head up to find a gate. The usual fortress guards will be around the gate. Take them down first. Then destroy the gate. Get the bullets left behind and head up. You will see another fortress guard on the wall to the north. Kill him and then turn left until you are facing the left side. You'll see a path that looks like a dead end. Shoot the ground to uncover some gold bars. Gold bars give you 5,000 extra points so get it and then destroy the gate to the right. It leaves grenades behind. Head up and kill the right fortress guard. Then head left but stay as far to the south along the south fortress wall to avoid getting grenaded by the other fortress guard. Watch out for a land mine in the middle. Take out the guard and the gate afterward. You'll get some bullets. Gate 1 ====== Head up and you'll face a macho man (he swings a club). His only attack is to run around and hit you. He takes one B-grenade or two regular grenades to kill. You can also fire 10 F bullets at him as well. It's hard to hit him with two grenades so unless you have B-grenades I recommend avoiding him. You will face two red soldiers afterwards. They drop an F and L respectively. Continue up and you'll face a stationary shooter on the right side. You can just stay out of his way but killing him will make the next part easier. Head up and you'll face a brown tank. You'll also see a tank that you can use on the left side. Killing the brown tank will be easy if you took out the stationary shooter. Now head up and you'll see another tank that you can take for a total of two tanks. You'll also see a stone face by the tanks. As you can imagine, destroying the stone face will trigger a chain reaction that will destroy both tanks. So how do you get the tanks? Well, you only need one so you'll be taking the top tank. Just stay on the far left side and head up. The arrows from the face will all miss. Now enter the top tank. Then move a safe distance from the face if you are going to destroy either it or the tank below so that you yourself don't get caught in the subsequent explosion. Then head up and you'll see more stone faces. There are four altogether. Destroy them all but don't get caught in their explosions. Continue forward and you'll notice light colored spots in the ground. If you don't then you're probably not in a tank because these spots will only prevent tanks from moving forward. These "spots" are marshes. What you need to do here is to maneuver your tank around the marshes. A good way to do this is to move up and along the far left rock. Then head across the bridge. Shoot the southwest corner of the center rock after you cross the bridge to uncover a gold clock. This item adds 2,000 points to your total. Now head up by going through the two rocks farthest to the left. You'll see a fortress guard. I suggest getting out of the tank (if you have one) and killing him on foot to save fuel. There are three paths to choose from. All lead to the same place but tanks can only use the right path so take that path if you're in a tank. The marshes can be tricky to get through but keep trying until you get past them. You will see another fortress guard halfway up the right path. Kill him before you go any further. Then head up and you'll see two fortress guards, one on each side. Kill the right one first. Then go to the left and take out the one there. Now stand against the left fortress wall. Then fire north to uncover a hidden heart. This item lets you retain all of your powerups after you die but for one death only. Destroy the gate but be on guard for the homing sensor placed in front of the gate. Quickly head up and grab the fuel left behind. Head through the gate and fire away. Gate 2 ====== The next area is full of grenade soldiers. There are two red soldiers and a macho man as well. The red soldiers drop an F and a B. If you kill the macho man, the resulting explosion will kill off a red soldier. Focus on killing the red soldiers first. Then take out the grenade soldiers. Avoiding the macho man is the least important thing to worry about here. Now head up and kill the grenade soldiers. You'll now come across some canopy. You should spot 5 "notches" in the southern part of the canopy. Shoot the canopy on the right next to the second notch from the left to uncover a hidden triple shot (looks like 3 dots). This lets you fire three shots out at once. However, it can not be upgraded so do not get it unless you have no powerups already. Now shoot the canopy north of the second notch from the right to find a hidden heart. Then head up. You'll face regular soldiers. Then you'll see a river running horizontally. Two red soldiers come out and attack. They drop a B and F behind. Go across the bridge. You'll see something flashing under the canopy to the north. That flashing object is a tank that you can use. Since it is a fresh tank, it will have max fuel so I suggest that you switch tanks to get a full tank of gas. Head north until you see some walls. This next area is full of walls that block your path. Fortunately, these walls that block your path can be destroyed with a grenade. It is pretty obvious where most are. The center path to your north is blocked by a wall. You can destroy this wall by grenading it. The wall will drop fuel behind. Now go up the middle path until you hit the next wall. Face left and fire at the far left shadows. You'll uncover a hidden gold box. It adds 1,000 points to your score. Now the wall to the right is blocking the path so destroy it. Just be careful not to get hit by the grenade soldier on the other side. Then head up through the right path. Your progress forward will soon be stopped by a long wall that runs halfway across the screen. Notice how the left edge of the wall is slanted? Well that should tip you off that the right side can be grenaded. This is the case sure enough. Head up and another equally long wall blocks your path. Grenade the center of this wall to create an opening through. Now you have two choices here. You can take the right path by going through the opening that you just created or take the left path that is already visible. I'll take the right path because it is safer. Head through the opening and fire at the shadows under the triangular shaped wall to the north to find some hidden gold bars. Although we took the right path, there is a hidden knife on the left path. There are two triangle shaped walls connected to each other in the center. Notice the two small spots of shadow in between these walls? The knife is found left of the left shadow. As a word of caution for those taking the left path, there is a homing sensor placed by the shadows under the top left wall. You'll now find yourself at a wall that spans the entire width of the screen. The weak spot is in the center. You'll get fuel afterwards. The next wall has weak spots on the far left and far right sides. Turn right and shoot the shadows to find a girl. This girl is Little Athena, a character from another SNK game, Athena. All she does is add 2,500 points to your score. Now go to the far left side of the wall. Head up and shoot the shadows above you to find a hidden heart. Go right and watch out for the land mine. You can walk or move the tank around it. There are probably several soldiers stuck against the wall above you. You should have noticed the ones that are grenade soldiers. The ones not firing are kamikaze soldiers. Kill them all before heading up. You'll see a tank on the right side. Get it if you need a fresh tank of gas or if you don't already have one. Head up and you'll be attacked by several grenade soldiers. If you want to save the tank, you can always kill the soldiers on foot first and then get back in the tank. There is a homing sensor placed in the narrowest part of the grass. Continue forward and you'll face a gun turret. Destroy it and move on. You'll now face two brown tanks on opposite sides of the river. Take out the right one first. Ignore the left one. You'll see a soldier in the middle of the wooden bridge. Stay away from him because he is a homing missile soldier. Beyond the bridge is a bunker. You can avoid the homing missile soldier by going to either side of the screen. The bunker makes the right side a little more difficult route to take but you should still have the tank with you so pass the soldier until he becomes a grenade soldier. Then take him out like usual. Destroy the bunker to get bullets and grenades. Head forward and you'll see two red soldiers. They both drop B's behind. Now stand above the wooden bridge so that you're in the water. Turn left and fire at the ground to find a hidden knife. Now head up. You'll see three arrow cannons by the fortress gate. Take your time passing each one. Destroy the gate for some fuel. Then head up. Gate 3 ====== You'll now be attacked by a lot of red soldiers. There are four altogether. They drop two F's and two L's between them. There is a lot of marsh so you'll have to really twist and turn to get your tank (if you have one) through. Keep going forward and you'll find a bunker. You can skip this one by moving along the far left side. It has bullets and grenades but they're not worth it. Just be careful of a homing missile placed to the left of the bunker. Head up and you'll see two flame thrower soldiers. Kill them both. Now look to the right side. You should see an opening between the trees. Shoot that opening to find an H. It will fully restore all of you ammo as well as giving you 200 fuel for your tank. Now destroy the gun turret to the north for some grenades. Destroy the other gun turret behind it to get bullets. Get to the far right side by the trees and fire north to find a hidden heart. Head up and you'll face two macho men. Avoiding them is going to be very difficult so I hope you have a tank, B-grenades, or a knife. If you do have to avoid them, I suggest that you use the rock in the center as a shield of sorts. It will help to separate the macho men from each other. Continue onward and you'll be at the foot of a suspension bridge. You'll hear the familiar "choop" sound as you approach. Stand to one side as you head up the bridge. You'll be attacked by a super tank. Take it out like normal with your grenades. Continue ahead but watch out for two land mines placed near the middle of the bridge. You'll fight four red soldiers next. They drop two L's and two S's. Now keep moving ahead to fight a chopper. Destroy it only if you're not in a tank. Otherwise, just keep moving because you're most likely running low on tank fuel. You'll fight a second chopper afterwards. Repeat the same strategy from before. Keep going ahead and you'll face a third chopper. Deal with it like before. Then you'll approach the end of the first bridge. You'll hear a "choop" sound again. Head up to face a super tank. Your tank should be making the ringing noise indicating that you are low on fuel at this point. Ignore it and keep going. You'll be able to kill the next two red soldiers. They leave an F and a B behind. Get out of the tank now if you haven't already done so. Then head up to find a blockade. Destroy it for some bullets. Now stand in between the two gray bars. Turn left and shoot the left gray bar to find a hidden heart. Then head up to fight a macho man. Try not to scroll the screen any further until you pass this macho man because a second one will appear if you scroll up too much. Move up after you pass the first macho man to fight a second one. Head up after you pass the second macho man and you'll see two buildings. Stand next to the right building's left side. Stop moving when you see a green tank appear. Do not move the screen up until you destroy this tank. Then you should see a patch of grass in the center. Stand to the right of this patch and move up to fight a second green tank. Destroy it before you move up any more. Now stand under the patch of grass and toss a grenade as you head up. It should land on and destroy a third green tank. Now stand against the left building and kill the stationary shooter. Then head up. Another green tank rushes out. You'll be safe if you stayed against the left building. Destroy the tank and keep moving. You'll see a stationary shooter on the right. Kill him. Then move up but don't stand in the center. Stay a little to the right of the center as you head up. You'll fight a brown tank. Destroy it and move up to fight another brown tank. Destroy this one too. Now pass the right building until you see the top of it. Turn right and shoot the ground above the right building to find a triple shot. Unless you have no other gun powerups I don't advise getting it because it removes all the other gun powerups that you have. Now stand against the left building and shoot up to find some super speed (SS). This item will make you move faster which makes surviving the water areas a whole lot easier. The next part will involve several self destruct soldiers so I recommend that you retreat back after you see them. Fighting them on land eliminates the protection that they get while underwater. Now a self destruct soldier will appear near the right side as you approach the water. Kill him quickly. Then slowly head up. Another self destruct soldier comes at you from the center. Kill him and then move up. Retreat back a little because two submerged soldiers come at you. The left one is a self destruct soldier while the right one is a kamikaze soldier. Both are dangerous so it doesn't matter who you kill first. Now go across the water. You'll soon come across a bunker and two red soldiers. They both drop B's. The bunker has bullets and grenades but they're not worth it unless you really need them. Just steer clear of the bunker by going around the right side of the rock in the water. This will help to jam the land mines that are chasing you. The red soldier to the right side is a fake. You'll now see a red soldier approaching from the left. He drops an F. Now stand directly north of the rock as you go up. You'll fight a kamikaze soldier. He'll be in your line of fire if you were above the rock as you moved up. Get on the island and you'll see a red soldier and a self destruct soldier coming towards you. The red soldier drops an L. Take out the red soldier first since he's closer. Then quickly kill the self destruct soldier afterwards. Keep moving ahead and you'll see another red soldier. He drops an F behind. Now go to the far left side. Stand one body width away from the edge and head up. You'll encounter an FL soldier on the fortress wall. Kill him and then stand next to the shadows of the left fortress wall as you head up. The left fortress guard is actually another FL soldier. Get within grenade range and kill him. You want to keep him firing directly south so don't get too close or he will start firing diagonally at you. Now the right soldier is a fortress guard so take him out like usual. Then destroy the gate if you haven't already done so. It leaves fuel behind. Shoot the ground below the wall to the right of the gate to find a triple shot. Go through the gate now. Gate 4 ====== Go north until you reach some walls. Shoot the ground left of the left shadows to find an H. Now go up the right path and shoot the shadow in between the wall to find a gold heart. This item is the ultimate in powerups. It gives you the B, F, L, S, heart, knife, and super speed powerups as well as fully recharging your ammo. Go up and you'll see two paths. Take the right one and you'll see a large area of shadow. Shoot the left half of it to find a hidden heart. Then go all the way to the left side where you see two triangular shaped walls connected to each other. Fire at the shadow on the left side of the walls to find a triple shot. Head up a little and you'll have a left and right path to choose from. Take the right path because the left path has a homing sensor that will kill you. Head up until you see two triangular shaped walls connected to each other on the screen. A fake red soldier will be above the left wall. An FL soldier will be standing right next to him. To the right will be a kamikaze soldier. Keep your eyes focused entirely on the FL soldier. Watch his shots and get out of their way while you kill the kamikaze soldier. Stand below the right edge of the left wall. You will also have a clear shot at the FL soldier from here. Kill him and then fire down the middle of the center path. You'll uncover a hidden knife. Be careful as you go down the center path to get the knife because a homing sensor is placed in the middle. Just run up the center path until you hit the wall above. Then turn right and fire. You'll uncover a hidden gold box at the bottom of the right path. Then head up the right path. Some regular soldiers will be running around. Just hide behind the walls for cover. Then you'll see a large wall with a large area of shadow below it. Go around the right side of the wall. Stand against the wall to your north. Turn left and fire to uncover an SS. You'll now have two paths to choose from. The left path has a hidden triple shot and a homing sensor. The triple shot can be found by shooting spot above the homing sensor. The right path is the safer of the two. Grab the SS that you uncovered and head through the right path. You'll now see a wall spanning the screen. Grenade the center to find an opening and some bullets. Then face left and shoot the shadows to the left of the newly created opening to find a hidden heart. Now there should be some grenade soldiers stuck against the wall to the north. Kill them first and then head through the opening. Then go around the wall from the left side. Kill any grenade soldiers that appear. A red soldier will appear above you. He drops an F behind. There should be some more grenade soldiers jammed to your right. Kill them while they're still jammed. Head up and two more red soldiers appear from the right side. They both have L's. Go up. I hope you have a knife because having one makes the next part very easy. If you have a knife, then just keep running up and skip this next paragraph. For those without knives, read on. You'll now fight scorpions. These pesky enemies will rush at you and run circles around you. Their method of attack is to run right into you like the kamikaze soldiers. Although they don't run straight for you, they will still walk into you from any direction. Therefore it's best to avoid any sticky situations by shooting them as they get near you. Stay in the center and keep heading up. Watch out for land mines scattered about. The scorpions will soon be replaced by killer bees. These insects don't fire at you but they can fly at you very quickly and (pardon the pun) make a beeline straight for you. Well, actually they fly down and then fly diagonally backwards before flying down at you again. You can think of their flight pattern resembling an "N" and a reverse "N" shape. This isn't dangerous except that they can hit you during their diagonal flight. Shoot them only if they are coming straight down at you or are at a distance from you. It's far safer to walk out of their flight path if they are closer to you because it's very hard to hit them at that range. Just try your best to keep moving ahead. You can always try to wait out the bees, but this usually results in the missiles being fired. You'll now reach some water and fight soldiers again. There will be a slow moving soldier among the ones that appear. That one is a self destruct soldier so take him out fast. As you get near the land's edge, a kamikaze soldier will greet you from beneath the water. Retreat and kill him on land where he loses the water advantage. Head up and you'll see a self destruct soldier swimming towards you. Run back and kill him as you gets out of the water. Now stand in the center of the screen and fire up into the water. You'll uncover an hidden SS. Get it and then stay one body length away from the left side of the screen. Keep going up until you see purple fortress walls. This is the final part of this mission. First, you will see two soldiers and a tank that you can use. The left one on the wall is an FL soldier. The right one is a missile soldier. If you took my advice and stayed on the left side, then you will be in perfect position to take out the FL soldier. Then head east and take out the missile soldier. Now do not enter the tank yet. First take out the fortress guard by the gate. Now before you enter the tank, please try your best to keep it intact because finishing this last part is a lot more difficult without a tank. With that in mind, enter the tank and destroy the gate to find some fuel. Stay on the right side of the gate as you head up. Gate 5 ====== To your north is another FL soldier. His shots will not affect your tank. Kill him and then turn your aim left. Fire to uncover a hidden triple shot. Now you have three paths to choose from. However, only the right path will let a tank through. You'll need to zigzag around the marsh in an "S" pattern to get past the marsh. You'll see a fortress guard to your north. Just kill him and move up. A green tank appears and moves sideways. It fires missiles so hiding behind the fortress walls will not help here. Unless you have the F and L powerups, I strongly suggest that you get out of your tank and destroy the enemy tank on foot. This will not only keep your tank safe, but also help to conserve fuel. Move the screen up a little after you destroy the tank. Do not move it up too far or you'll lose your tank. Now another green tank appears past the gate above you. It is also equipped with missiles. Destroy it on foot and then take out the gate. Then get back in your tank. Head through the gate and two soldiers on the wall await you. The left one is an FL soldier while the right one is a fortress guard. Take out the fortress guard first. Then turn your aim right and shoot the ground to the right to find a hidden knife. Now go left and take out the FL soldier. Your tank will provide cover against his shots. Then destroy the gate for some grenades. Unless you found fuel from the green tanks, you will need to hurry. Keep to the right side of the gate and go on through. You'll see some marshes and four red soldiers. They drop two F's and two L's. Ignore the red soldiers unless you really need the F and the L. Focus on getting past the marsh as quickly as possible. This is accomplished by moving up until you are on top of the far left rock. Then move right and up again to get around the rock to the bridge. Head up through the opening between the two rocks farthest to the left until you get stopped by a marsh. Now move left and up to get around this marsh. Then go right and you'll be in front of an FL soldier. Kill him and then you'll see that you have three paths to choose from. Unfortunately, only the right path allows tanks to pass through so take that path. You'll need to do the same "S" shaped movements to get by the marsh. You'll also fight another fortress guard as you head through this way. Kill him and head through the opening until you bump against the right fortress wall with pipes on its left side. There are four soldiers altogether here. The left and right soldiers are each fortress guards. You should have already noticed that the two in the center are both FL soldiers. Now you see why having a tank makes this part easy. First, kill the right fortress guard. Then go left and down until you're in the center path. Then turn your aim north and fire to uncover a hidden heart. Now do not go left to kill the other fortress guard because there is a land mine to the left that your tank can't get past. Therefore, just hug the right fortress wall and head up. The FL soldiers' bullets will be ineffective against your tank. Get next to them and let them both have a taste of your shots. Then destroy the gate from a safe distance for some fuel. Watch out for a homing sensor placed in front of the gate. Hug the right wall as you head on up through gate to finish area 2 and get 20,000 bonus points. You should now have over 200,000 points if you haven't continued since the start of the game. ############################## ## Area 3 ## ############################## Start ===== You'll begin area 3 without any powerups unless you grabbed a heart from area 2. If you didn't have a heart when you finished area 2, then say goodbye to your powerups. If you did grab a heart, you will keep everything but you'll lose everything if you die once. Therefore, proceed carefully until you find another heart. If you had nothing when you finished the last mission, then the loss isn't so bad but still be on guard as you proceed. You're now indoors. A lot of stuff is gray so get used to this drab color. Bunkers and other objects will now be colored differently. You'll face some new enemies here as well. Head up and you'll fight a red soldier. He leaves an F behind. To your north is a bunker. Watch out for the homing sensor that's placed directly south of the bunker. Stand southeast of the right steel drum to get protected from the bunker's shots. Then grenade it to get fuel and bullets. Go through the gap between the drum and the right wall to avoid the homing sensor. Continue forward and you'll see a fortress guard in the center. Two red soldiers will be on both sides. The left soldier drops a B while the right one drops an F. Take the left path and you'll see a tank that you can take. Behind it is a brown tank. This tank is placed to lure you in to your death. Instead of getting the tank, you will be destroying it. Then destroy the brown tank afterwards. Head up and you'll see another tank that you can take. Shoot the oil drum next to the tank to find a hidden knife. Then kill the red soldier for a B. Now enter the tank. Head up but watch out for the homing sensor above the oil drum. Stay in the center as you head up. You'll see a green tank appear. As you headed up, you went under a steel catwalk. As long as you stay just above this catwalk, you will be safe from the tank's shots. Wait for an opportunity to attack and destroy the tank. Now keep firing north as you head down the center. You will destroy a second green tank that rushes out from the center. Now turn your aim right and fire at the shadows to your right to uncover an SS. Head up and you'll see two missile soldiers. Kill both and continue onward. You'll now see fake Pauls and fake Vinces. These guys are nothing more than regular soldiers disguised to look like you. One shot will take them down. Keep heading forward until you reach water. A red soldier appears. He drops an L. Across the water is a yellow tank. Destroy it. Now you will find the part that is most annoying on this stage, stairs. If you though moving in water was slow, wait until you try climbing stairs. The first step takes the longest and leaves you vulnerable to enemy fire. Your best bet is to have the super speed (SS) powerup which makes navigating the stairs more tolerable. Head across the stairs and you'll encounter another red soldier. He drops an S behind. Many of the soldiers will be kamikaze soldiers so I hope you still have the knife from earlier. The good news is that they won't shoot you. You'll soon fight two more red soldiers from the right side. They drop an L and S behind. A yellow tank will be attacking you from across the water. Grenade it and then go across. Avoid the land mine because it can kill you as you're climbing stairs. Head up and there will be many yellow tanks on both sides. Fortunately, they aren't operational. You will be attacked by a yellow tank coming down the center though. A homing sensor will also be placed around the center to avoid it. Destroy the tank and head up. A second yellow tank should be attacking from the right side. Grenade it and move on up to fight a third yellow tank from the left side. Destroy it and then look at the floor. You should see yellow pipes. Look for the pipes that form a square. It is found in the center of the screen, along the same horizontal line that the third yellow tank was following. Now above the square should be more yellow pipes. Shoot the pipes above the square pipes to find a hidden triple shot. A yellow tank should be attacking you from the right side now. Destroy it and then look at the stationary tanks on the left side. You should see some gray floor tiles running between two of them. Shoot those gray tiles between the tanks to find a hidden SS. The super speed will be the most useful powerup in this mission so try not to lose it too soon. Now head up and you'll see some of the stationary tanks on both sides firing at you. Upon closer examination, there are only two stationary yellow tanks that are actually firing. Destroy them both. Watch out for a homing sensor placed in the center. Head up and you'll see a red soldier. He drops a B. Now to the north are some bullets across the water. The bullets are guarded by a stationary shooter behind them. There is also a kamikaze soldier in the center to make things more interesting. Getting the bullets is your choice. I prefer not to get them because climbing the stairs sets you up for an easy death by the land mine. I choose to go up the left side and avoid the entire mess altogether. So go up the left side and kill the kamikaze soldier as he gets on land. Now you should be above the triangle wall to the left. Turn left and shoot the floor pipes to find a hidden heart. Then you need to hurry across the water to the north because the land mine will kill you while you climb. If the mine is too close then kill the stationary shooter to the right and lure the mine away before you cross the water. There will be grenades on the other side. Head up the left side of the green piping. You'll see a self destruct soldier in the water to the right. He is unable to climb the stairs and since you are behind the green pipe, his shots can't hit you. Give him a taste of your grenades. Then head up and a kamikaze soldier appears. You can retreat back behind the pipes for cover and kill him afterwards. Then get the grenades. Go up along the left side and you'll see some green piping in the center. In the middle of the green pipes are yellow pipes. Get over to the center by climbing up the sides of the stairs. The land mine will be your biggest threat here because it will kill you if you don't move far enough away from it before you climb. Shoot the top of the yellow pipes to find a hidden SS. Now walk along the left side of the center island. To the north on the left side will be a red soldier. He drops a B. To the right are two soldiers stuck against the green piping. The top one is a kamikaze soldier while the bottom one is a self destruct soldier. Kill them both before you move up. To the north is a missile soldier. Two red soldiers will be approaching from the water. They both carry F's. Now a self destruct soldier will be rushing down the center of the water. Kill him quickly. Behind him is a kamikaze soldier. Then head up along the left side and you'll see a green soldier run down the center. Kill him for a K. Then get it. Now there are several small islands to the north. An FL soldier is sitting on top of the center island. You'll need to kill him quickly if you didn't already do so with the K. Ignore the fake red soldier because he's not a threat. Kill the FL soldier quickly because behind him are two underwater soldiers. The left one is a self destruct soldier while the right one is a kamikaze soldier. You definitely do not want to engage them all at once. If you do have to fight them all, I suggest that you retreat back and take out the self destruct soldier, kamikaze soldier, and FL soldier in that order. Having the super speed will allow you to move just as fast as the self destruct and kamikaze soldiers. You'll see three equally shaped islands. Go up through the left and middle islands. Turn left when you get to the end of the water and are at the foot of the stairs spanning the entire screen. Fire at the water to the left to find a hidden gold heart at the far left side. This little item should give you the edge you need to win if you don't already have all the powers it gives you. Now head up the stairs and you'll see a bunker to the right. Next to it are two tanks for the taking. Here's how to get the tank safely. First, you should see two drums on the left side. Get under them so that you're now left of the tank and bunker. Turn right and fire at the bunker. Your F bullets will destroy it. The bunker leaves bullets and grenades behind. The tank will remain safe. Now walk down and then right until you are directly south of the tank. You should see a drum directly north of the tank. Fire at that drum. You will kill a oil drum soldier. The tank next to him also gets destroyed by the explosion but you only need one tank anyway. Now enter the tank and proceed. Head down the center. You'll soon see a homing missile soldier to the right side. Quickly move back once you see him. His range is very long and he can destroy your tank if you charge in there unprepared. You should have the necessary firepower to kill him from a distance thanks to the gold heart from earlier. If you don't, then head up the left side to avoid the soldier altogether. Now you'll see a second homing missile soldier on the left side. Unless you have long range shots or B-grenades, you may have to sacrifice your tank in order to kill the soldier. Head up after you kill them to find a skull door. These doors will now replace the fortress gates of the last two missions. They are still destroyed in the same way though. The fortress guards are here and they are ready to kill you. Take them both out before you destroy the door. You'll get fuel for your tank. Head under the gate but stop short of passing through. Move up enough until you see your hair showing on the other side of the gate. Then turn left and fire. You'll uncover a hidden knife. Gate 1 ====== Now kill the red soldier on the screen for an L. Head up and you'll see another red soldier. He drops an L as well. To your right is a yellow tank. Head over to destroy it. Keep in mind that the dummy tanks will not provide you cover because this tank is firing missiles. Then go up and kill the next red soldier for an S. Then you will see another yellow tank moving across the top. This tank fires regular shots so you can take refuge behind the other tanks if you need. As you head up you will see green pipes and a lot of gray domes. Your path is split into three parts. The right path is suicide because of a homing missile placed along the path. The center path is safe but it doesn't have any items. The left path is the recommended one. The left path has three cones enclosed by green piping. Look at the top two cones that are close together. Look to their right side and you should see a small gray area. Fire at that area to uncover hidden gold bars. Then head up the left path. Now look for the topmost cone. Then stand to that cone's right side by going above it because there is a homing missile below the cone. Fire at the yellow piping to the right and you'll uncover a hidden knife just above the green piping to the right. Now you'll see pools of water. There are several paths to take but I suggest sticking to the paths with floor tiles because you will move faster. Falling into the pool will leave you a sitting duck for all the kamikaze soldiers in the area. Stay on the floor tiles if you are in a tank because the tank will fall down the stairs very easily. Tanks cannot climb stairs. In fact, the only way to get back out of a pool after falling in is to back up and "climb" up spots where there are no steps. I suggest taking the center path north until you see a homing sensor. Then go right and you'll be under a rectangular pool. Shoot one floor tile left of the center of the northern steps to find a hidden H. To the north is a bunker. Destroy it for bullets and grenades. Then go up and you'll see a pool north of the bunker. Shoot the left half of the water to find a hidden SS. Now you should have already been attacked by three red soldiers. If not, then just move up until you see them. Ignore the right one because he is a fake. The other two each drop B's behind. Now do not take the center path because there is a land mine placed at the start of the path which is a pain for tanks to get around. Take the far right path instead. You will see two homing missile soldiers as you approach the rectangular pool. I hope you have long range shots or B-grenades or you will not get past these guys without dying. Take them both out and then you will see two paths going north. You should also see a pool with stairs that form a triangle in the middle of it. If you are in a tank now, then I strongly recommend that you park the tank on the right path so that it is positioned to the right of the triangle steps. Now get out and stand in the water so that you are directly to the right of these steps. Then head up. You will see two skull doors and three soldiers on top of the doors. The left and right soldiers are fortress guards. The center soldier is an FL soldier. You will be out of the FL soldier's line of fire if you are standing to the right of the triangle steps. Now take out the soldier. Then destroy the left skull door. The right skull door is a fake and will not open if you grenade it. Grenade it anyway for some points. Since the right door is a fake, there is no need to kill the right fortress guard. Just kill the left one. Then get back in your tank if you got out and get the bullets and grenades from the skull door. Head through. Gate 2 ====== You'll see two paths. A red soldier comes out. He drops a B. Behind the soldier up on the catwalk is a moving cannon. It fires missiles and moves around so you'll need to time your grenades. Now head up the left side. Another red soldier comes at you. He drops a B. Two more red soldiers come out, but they are on the right side. Both drop F's behind. Now do not fire if you are in a tank or throw grenades if you are on foot. To the north is a tank that you don't want to destroy by accident. You probably are running low on fuel if you already have a tank. Here's the perfect time to switch tanks (or grab a new one). The red soldier to the left drops an L behind. You have two paths to take again. Take the left side and head up. Stop when you reach the second pool. Go left so that you are standing south of the pool's water. Face north and fire at the water. A hidden gold clock will appear. Continue ahead. The red soldier on the right side dropped an L if you were curious. Now you will have two paths to pick from again. A moving cannon will run along the center and head right. Take it out if you can. Then take the left path. You'll see a flame thrower soldier. Just stay out of his line of fire and you'll be safe. Take him out. Then go left. Above you on the wall is a fortress guard. To north on the right are two more flame thrower soldiers. There's another tank that you can take. The other soldiers stuck against the walls are grenade soldiers so kill them through the walls if you can. Go up and you'll see another fortress guard. Kill the soldier before entering the tank. Now head up. You'll see a green soldier running towards you. Kill him and get the K that he drops. Now the path will widen up and you should see three floor tiles lined up diagonally. Stand on the bottom tile and turn left. Fire at the ground to the left to find a hidden heart. Go forward and you'll see black soldiers. Treat them like regular soldiers. Now the area will be covered with catwalks making it hard to see. Be careful passing under them because there is a land mine placed on the left and right sides. Head up along the left wall to avoid all the mines. A green tank will rush out at you from the left side as you approach the shadows of the walls to your north. You will be safe if you say below the catwalk by the left wall. Destroy the tank. Then on the left wall above you is a fortress guard. Take him down. Then head up along the left wall. You'll see another green tank. This one will be moving diagonally on the right side. Destroy this tank. There is a fortress guard on the right wall but he is not a threat so continue forward down the center of the area to avoid the land mines. Just don't get too close to the fortress guard on the right side. You'll see a red soldier in the center. He carries a B. On both sides are fortress guards. To the north in the center is a moving cannon. Take out the left guard first. Then destroy the cannon. Kill the right guard last. Then head up but stay on the right side as much as possible. You'll see a land mine at the top of the passageway and two missile soldiers. The left one is a homing missile soldier while the right one is a regular missile soldier. Staying as far to the right as possible will help you avoid the homing missiles. Try to get as close to the right soldier without getting hit by his missiles. Then kill the homing missile soldier. Kill the other soldier afterwards. You'll see a skull door to the north. Two fortress guards will protect it. Take them out and then the skull door. You'll find fuel. Now head on through the gate. Gate 3 ====== You'll find yourself in oil drum country. Well, it's actually oil drum soldier country but who's counting? This means that the area that you are now in is filled with oil drum soldiers. Of course, not all the oil drums are oil drum soldiers but you won't be able to tell until you get close enough. Take the initiative and just grenade all the oil drums. This is more effective than running up to an oil drum and risk getting shot in the process. Stick to the left side for fewer oil drum soldiers. Now you'll see plenty of steps and only one path in the center. Take the center path and you'll see that the path sticks out to the right and left. Shoot the floor tiles of these right and left mini-paths to uncover a hidden triple shot and an SS. You'll then see a chopper that you can take. A red soldier will appear here too. He drops a B behind. The chopper will make surviving this next part a lot easier. What you will now be doing is flying over water. However, there are land mines, kamikaze soldiers, self destruct soldiers, and choppers to pass. Land mines are easy to avoid. This makes self destruct soldiers your primary threat. Rather than telling you which one is which, just keep away from all the underwater soldiers. If you want to know the order, soldiers 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10 are the self destruct soldiers. Keep in mind that this ordering is based on the order that they appear with soldier 1 being the first underwater soldier that you come across. Keep firing as you fly up. Stay on the left side for the safest path through. You'll see a red soldier as you fly up. He drops an F. You'll soon see a grenade in the center. A fake red soldier comes out but ignore him. There should be an island left of the grenades. Fire at the floor tiles on the island to uncover a hidden SS. Continue on and a chopper appears to the right. Ignore it and keep moving. You'll see an island with one spot of water in the center. Fire at that spot of water to uncover a hidden heart. An enemy chopper will appear above the heart. A green soldier runs out on the right side. Don't waste your fuel by going after him. Just keep moving ahead. You'll soon come across three equally shaped island across from one another. South of this trio is another island. Shoot the center of this southern island to find a hidden knife. Then shoot the middle island of the trio to uncover some hidden gold bars. Your chopper should be out of fuel by now so get out. Take care of any self destruct and kamikaze soldiers in the area. To the north will be two fortress guards. Take them both down. You will be in front of three skull doors. Destroy them all to find bullets and grenades. Behind the doors is a yellow tank. Destroy the tank next. Now go through the right door only. The other two doors both have land mines placed under the doorway (the part where you can't see your character anymore). You can avoid them by staying to one side on the doorway but it's a lot easier just to avoid them altogether. You will see two fortress guards and two red soldiers. Run up until you are against the wall. The red soldiers will retreat but let them. You will see them get stuck against the wall to the north. Just worry about killing the fortress guards first. Now go up and kill both red soldiers for an F and L respectively. You'll then see a green tank on the wall above and two skull doors. Destroying the tank leaves behind a tank that you can enter. Too bad it's out of your reach. The tank just teases you by sitting outside your reach so just blow it up for more points. Then destroy the right skull door because the left door is a fake. You'll find bullets and grenades. Go on through the door. Gate 4 ====== Go on through the door to find a bunker. Destroy it for bullets and grenades. Past the bunker is a moving cannon. Let it move to the right side before you destroy it. There is a tank past the cannon that you can use. Head up and the red soldier that appears drops a B. You should have noticed that the catwalk to the right forms a square shape. Shoot the floor in the square's center to find a hidden SS. Then go up to find a bunker. Destroy it for bullets and grenades. You'll then see a blue soldier with a shield in front of him. This is the task force soldier. Just think of him as a new version of the macho man. He takes 10 F bullets, 2 grenades, or one B- grenade to kill. He also explodes with a B-grenade's explosion radius. Head up and watch out for kamikaze soldiers. There will also be a moving cannon about. Destroy the soldiers and the cannon. Head up and you'll see more catwalk and more task force soldiers. There are several here so do not move the screen up until you pass each one. Continue up and you'll see more stairs and lots of soldiers. Ignore the red soldiers because they are fakes. Worry about the mob of blue soldiers though. You will come across two pools and a larger set of stairs above the pools. Stand in the center of the two pools and shoot the north side of the northern stairs to find a hidden heart. Continue forward and you'll see two fortress guards. Kill them both. Now you have two paths to take. Take the left path because the right path has two land mines to avoid. There is a homing sensor placed at the end of the left path but you can avoid it by staying on the far left side of the screen as you head up. You'll now be at another gate. Killing the pair of fortress guards will be harder than usual. The left one dies easily but the right one is a pain. The reason is that the cone to the right blocks you from tossing a grenade at the soldier. Your options can be standing next to the cone and tossing B-grenades, using long range shots, or trying a risky hit and run tactic with grenades. Destroy the skull door for fuel after you take out the guards. Now fire up through the door as you go through it. You'll uncover a hidden triple shot. Get it only if you don't have any other gun powerups. Gate 5 ====== You'll now see lots of stairs. Head up and try to avoid the soldiers' shots as best you can. Kill the red soldier for an F. Keep moving and you'll see some fake red soldiers. The real red soldier is the one on the right. He drops an L behind. Follow the paths with floor tiles. You'll soon see one path through a large area of steps and two mini-paths that stick out to the left and right sides. Shoot the floor tiles between the two mini-paths to find a hidden H. Head up to the next pool and you'll see more red soldiers. Two of them are real and they both drop B's behind. Head up and you'll be back to oil drum country again. This time, you will need to pass a lot more oil drums. Keep to the same strategy like before which was to grenade every oil drum. If you see too many oil drums clumped together, then chances are that some of them are oil drum soldiers. Don't be afraid to use your ammo up because the oil drum soldiers drop plenty of fuel. There should be more than enough for you to use against the oil drums. At the end of the oil drums will be a yellow tank. Destroy it. You may get lucky and get a tank but it's random. Now head up and two more yellow tanks attack you. Take them both down. Then go forward and you'll see a homing missile soldier on the island by the right side. Kill him and then head up along the left side of the screen. Watch out for a kamikaze soldier in the area. Head up and you'll see two self destruct soldiers approaching you from the left and right sides. Kill them both quickly or you're toast. Now another self destruct soldier approaches from the right. You will have a little more time to kill him than you did for the last two. Get the bullets in the water. There is an island in the center of the water. Get on the left side of it. There is no hidden item in the center of the green pipes this time. Head up and watch out for the kamikaze soldier that comes at you from the left. Then fire up at the floor tiles at the northern tip of the island. You will find Little Athena (girl). Two self destruct soldiers will approach from the right side. Run back to get them both stuck against the green piping. Then take them out while they're both stuck. Head up and you'll see a red soldier. He drops a B. Now stay to the right side. There are a lot of self destruct soldiers in the area. They will come at you from the left and center. You should see a narrow strip of water above the island on the right with green piping Stand in this narrow strip of water and turn right. Fire at the water to find a hidden gold heart. Now you have all the firepower that you need so don't lose it. Head up and a kamikaze soldier will chase you from the left. He shouldn't stand a chance against you since you grabbed the gold heart. You'll see three islands to the north. The left and right islands each have homing missile soldiers on them. The center island has a regular missile soldier. Take out the homing missile soldier on the right. Then pass the other two so that they become grenade soldiers. Kill them off before you proceed further. There will be more green pipes separating the path forward. A red soldier comes out. He drops a B. If you kill the red soldier, don't immediately get the B because there is a fortress guard in a perfect position to kill you as you get the B. Kill him first before getting the B. There are two more fortress guards to deal with in this area. Anyway, go up the left path. Stay to the left as much as possible to avoid the fortress guards. Of course, you are always free to kill them but it isn't necessary to do so here. You'll soon come to two skull doors. There will be four fortress guards on the wall above you. Try to avoid dying here because you will get stuck behind the green piping and will have to wait for the missiles to get free. Kill the left guard first. Then I hope you have long range shots because killing the center two guards is difficult without them. Now ignore the right fortress guard and head up through the left doorway. Gate 6 ====== You'll see two green tanks above you. You'll be safe as long as you stand directly left of the oil drum. Watch out for a homing sensor placed to the left of the oil drum. You'll be fine as long as you stay near the oil drum. Kill the left tank first. Then destroy the door and the other tank. Get the fuel that the door left behind. Stop when you see the two fortress guards. Killing them both is almost impossible without the necessary firepower so I hope you have either F and L powerups or the B-grenades. Head through the doorway and you'll see a land bridge running down the center. You've entered the final area of this mission. There will be plenty of soldiers in the area. The ones coming out of the water are all self destruct soldiers so take them out first. Then shoot the right column of floor tiles on the land bridge to find a hidden heart. A red soldier runs down the left side of the land bridge. He drops a B. You will now see red carpeting down the center of the screen. Fortress guards will be on both sides of the carpet. Take them out one by one. Kamikaze soldiers will be charging down the red carpet so give them some star treatment with your guns. Now you'll come to a skull door. This is the easiest part of this final area so enjoy killing the fortress guards without problem. The door will leave nothing behind. I hope you have either F and L or just super speed because you will not survive this next part without one of these two. As you head up through the doorway, FL soldiers will rush out from both sides and take up positions by the yellow piping near the red carpet. Needless to say, there will be MANY shots flying all over the place. If you have super speed, then simply run up down the middle and you will avoid all of the shots. You must be in the dead center of the red carpet or you will get hit. If you have F and L, then quickly run up and pick side to kill. Then run diagonally towards that side and fire away. You should be able to pick off each FL soldier before he can get a shot off. Move to the side that you picked to avoid getting killed by the FL soldiers that you didn't kill. It is very hard to avoid death but it is possible. After you pass the FL soldiers you will come to a desk with a corpse. There are four FL soldiers and two homing missile soldiers around the desk. Between the six of them, almost every square inch of the screen is covered. The only safe spot is directly in the center of the red carpet at the bottom of the screen. However, you must be under the gray floor tiles or you will get hit. As you can imagine, this spot is only accessible if you don't move the screen up too fast. The easiest way to get to it is to have run past the FL soldiers earlier with super speed. Then you just keep running up until the last FL soldier goes off the screen. Then immediately turn around and head south. Doing this will let you escape the homing missiles that get fired as you headed north. Now that you are safe, you are also pinned down. Getting past this part alive is extremely difficult and everything must be done perfectly to live. Read the section below on how to do it. This is for experts only so unless you are very skilled at the game, I suggest that you skip it and take the easier method below that. *** EXPERTS ONLY! How to pass without dying. EXPERTS ONLY! *** Here's how to do it. You must have super speed (SS), B, F, and L. Having S is helpful but not required. You will run past the FL soldiers and then head up the center of the carpet for the desk. This next part is the critical one. You will be running up and turning northwest to fire shots at the left homing missile soldier and leftmost FL soldier. However, you will need to throw a B-grenade diagonally at the right homing missile soldier a moment before you do this. Timing is critical here because one wrong move and the left homing missile soldier will fire at you. After you toss your grenade, immediately turn northwest and kill the left homing missile soldier and FL soldier by firing at a sharp angle (the sharper of the diagonal lines of fire that you have). Then you will take a step or two downward to avoid the three remaining FL soldiers' shots. Refer to figure 1 below on where to stand. Figure 1. F FL soldier H Homing missile soldier X spot to stand after attacking / red carpet F _ _ F F |_\__/_| F H \____/ H __ |//| X |//| |//| |//| |//| |//| As you can see, the spot is exactly the third and fourth gray floor tiles south of the left side of the desk. Figure 2 below shows how the remaining FL soldiers will be firing after you reach that spot. Figure 2. (not drawn to scale) F FL soldier | FL soldier's line of fire / FL soldier's line of fire X spot to stand after attacking DESK location of the desk (was removed for clarity) F F | DESK / F | / / | / / | / / | / / | / / |/ / |X / /|X/ / |/ / | / /| / / | Now that only three FL soldiers remain, it is just a matter of waiting for an opportunity to attack. Take out the two on the right side first because it is easier to dodge only one FL soldier's shots than it is for two FL soldiers. Then kill the left one and you've done the near impossible...live through the final area end of mission 3. Now skip over the next paragraph below to find out how to finish the mission. *** end of section *** There's no real way to get out of that safe spot without getting shot so I suggest that you plan a kamikaze mission. Your goal is to run up and take out as many soldiers as you can but the priority will be the two homing missile soldiers. Run up and try to take them both out. Doing so will be a major plus. Now you just have to take out the FL soldiers one at a time. Expect to die a few more times while doing this. Take advantage of your temporary invulnerability after each death to take out one or more FL soldiers. There is a hidden heart just below the second FL soldier from the right. This part is almost impossible to pass without dying so don't be discouraged if you die plenty of times here. The missiles will not come unless you scroll the screen far enough but you'll also lose your safe spot if you do. One word of caution though. If you scroll the screen up until it goes no further (you can see a skull and crossbones behind the desk), then you can no longer use the continue code (see section "Secrets" below for details) if you lose your last life. Therefore, it is to your advantage to not scroll the screen all the way up. After you take out all the soldiers, it will seem like there is nowhere to go. First grenade the corpse until it blows up. Now you should see shadows on the south side of the desk. Move up or down until you are lined up horizontally with the shadows. Now you need to throw a grenade at the floor. If you hit the right spot, a stairway will appear. The spot is random each game but the spot is always found somewhere between the floor tiles going across the south side of the desk but between the two yellow pipes. Usually, you can find it in the shadows of the desk but occasionally you'll need to grenade the gray floor tiles to the left and to the right of the shadows. I have yet to see it get past the yellow piping so I'm relatively sure that you won't find them there. Therefore, it is just a matter of systematically tossing grenades at each square (10 squares total) between the two yellow pipes until you find the stairs. Note that you cannot find the stairs unless the corpse is gone. Enter the stairway to finish area 3 and get 30,000 bonus points. You should have nearly 400,000 points if you haven't continued since the start of the game. ############################## ## Area 4 ## ############################## Start ===== You'll begin area 4 without any powerups unless you grabbed a heart from area 3. If you didn't have a heart when you finished area 3, then say goodbye to your powerups. If you did grab a heart, you will keep everything but you'll lose everything if you die once. Therefore, proceed carefully until you find another heart. If you had nothing when you finished the last mission, then the loss isn't so bad but still be on guard as you proceed. You should immediately have noticed that the background colors are different. You are now in the inner fortress so you'll be fighting in darker colored backgrounds. Stay to the left side and go up to find a yellow tank. A red soldier appears from the right side. He drops a B. To the north is another yellow tank. It will move diagonally along the red floor. Destroy it and you will see another yellow tank to the right. Destroy this one too. Now you should that the floor forms a black triangle just below where the tank was. Stand on the right side of the black triangle so that you are next to the red floor on the right. Then face north and fire upward to find a hidden SS. Head up and you'll see two fortress guards on either side. In the center is a red soldier. He drops a B. Between the two fortress guards is a moving cannon. Take out the fortress guards first. Then destroy the cannon. You'll see two more red soldiers as you head up the middle. They both drop F's behind. Now you will see a land bridge running up the middle. Watch out for a land mine at the foot of the land bridge. There is a kamikaze soldier on either side so take them out before you go up the bridge. You'll soon come across an intersection. Shoot the floor to the left of the intersection to find a hidden triple shot. Continue across the bridge. There will be a self destruct soldier on either side of the bridge so lure them out to kill them. There is a homing missile at the end of the bridge so you might want to walk in the water to avoid it. Two red soldiers will come down from the middle after the bridge. They both have L's. Above you on the left is a fortress guard. Next to him is a moving cannon. Try to nail them both with a B- grenade if you have one. If not, then take the fortress guard out first. Now head up the middle. You'll now see lots of tanks. Most of them are inactive. There will be yellow tank attacking from the left. It should be pretty obvious which one it is. Destroy it and then head up. Watch out for a land mine near the center. You'll be attacked by two yellow tanks. One comes down the middle while the other is on the right side. Destroy the middle one first. Then take out the other one. A red soldier should have followed behind the middle tank. If you don't see him then you probably killed him when you destroyed the middle tank. It is no big loss because he only had an S. You will find a tank to take on the left side. Do not enter it yet. To the north are two homing missile soldiers. You will want to kill the left one before entering the tank or he will destroy it. You can just pass the other soldier and kill him once he becomes a grenade soldier. You'll now find yourself at the foot of the first gate. There are the same old fortress guards around the skull door. Take them out and then destroy the door. Get the fuel and bullets left behind and head on through. Gate 1 ====== Fire at the yellow pipes directly north of the gateway to find a hidden SS. You will be attacked by a yellow tank to the left. Destroy it. Then go up but watch out for a land mine. To the right is another yellow tank. Destroy it and head up. You'll see a red soldier. Kill him for a B. Now in the center is a fortress guard and a moving cannon. Take your time and wait for the cannon to come back to destroy it. Kill the fortress guard in the meantime. Do not chase after the cannon because you will die easily. Now you have two paths to take. Take the right path because the left has three homing sensors placed very close to each other. Head up the right path and you'll see a red soldier. He drops an F but don't worry about him. On the wall above you are two soldiers. The left is an FL soldier and the right is a fortress guard. The FL soldier is your top priority. Take him down before you do anything else. Then kill the fortress guard. Head up and you'll see four purple tunnels separated by pink piping. Each tunnel has two sections. Take whichever tunnel you want but here is what is in each tunnel. I'll call the tunnels, 1-4 starting from the left. So the far left tunnel is tunnel 1 while the far right one is tunnel 4. Each tunnel has a hidden item that you can find by simply firing as you go through the tunnel. Tunnel 1 has a hidden knife and grenades in the first half. Tunnel 2 has a hidden heart near the end of the second half but there is a homing sensor near the heart. Tunnel 3 has a triple shot in the first half. Tunnel 4 has a gold box in the second half. There are also two homing sensors at the end of the tunnel. Based on these descriptions, I would take the first half of tunnel 1 for the knife and then switch over to tunnel 2 to get the heart as well. If you just want to blaze through without anything, then just take tunnel 3. Kamikaze soldiers will be chasing you in the tunnels but they won't be a threat since you should be in a tank. You'll see a fortress guard in the center after you pass through the tunnels. To his left is a red soldier. He drops an L. Kill them both and head up via the right side. You'll see an FL soldier on the wall above. Kill him. Then head up going down the center. You'll encounter two red soldiers. Both of them carry S's each. Watch out for the self destruct soldier to the right of the second red soldier. I suggest retreating behind the FL soldier's wall to get him stuck. You'll then see a homing missile soldier in the center. Take him out carefully. You'll then be at the foot of a gate. There are three skull doors but no fortress guards. Destroy the doors. The left door drops fuel, the middle door drops grenades, and the right door drops bullets. The left and right doors both have land mines under the doorway so avoid them by staying to the left or right side of the doorway as you pass under. I prefer to get the fuel to restock my ammo and then just taking the middle door since there is no mines there (no one said you had to go through the door completely). You'll now see two fortress guards. Kill them both. Then you'll see two more skull doors. Above the doors is a fortress guard. Kill the guard. Then destroy the right door because the left is a fake. Get the fuel and head on through. Gate 2 ====== You will see water above you. Do not enter it yet. Look at the floor between the gate and the water. The top half should be purple floor tiles while the bottom half is all black. Go left along the black floor and fire at the floor on the far left side to find a hidden gold heart. Now you have the firepower necessary to cross the water. Now head up into the water. Stay on the right side. You'll soon see a kamikaze soldier above you. Kill him and move on. You then see two red soldiers. The left is real and carries an F while the right one is a fake. Head forward and you'll see three things. The first is a red soldier from the right side. He carries a B. The second is the fortress guard on the island to your north. The third is the self destruct soldier heading towards you from the left. Kill the red soldier first because he's closer to you. Then take aim and kill the self destruct soldier. This should be no problem thanks to the gold heart you grabbed earlier. Kill the fortress guard last. Continue onward and you'll soon see another kamikaze soldier. The next submerged soldier after him is a self destruct soldier. You'll then see a fortress guard on a small island in the center. Kill him and head up. A green soldier runs out from the left while a self destruct soldier will approach from the right. Kill the green soldier for the K and use it to kill the self destruct soldier. Head up and you may see another self destruct soldier depending if you got him with the K. Kill him if you do see him. You'll now find yourself in oil drum country again. Just grenade every oil drum and you'll kill them all. Go wild with the grenades because the fuel that the soldiers drop is more than enough for you to lay waste to the area. Just remember, if there are too many oil drums grouped together, then you can expect one or more of them is an oil drum soldier. You'll encounter a red soldier at the end of the oil drums. He drops an F behind. Now to your left on the wall is a moving cannon. A red soldier will come down the left path. He carries a B. You have two paths to take. Go with the right path. Stay against the right wall as you head up to avoid the land mine. At the end of both paths are flame thrower soldiers. Just stay out of their line of fire and you'll be ok. Now above you should be an red octagon shaped pattern in the floor. Shoot the center of it to find a hidden heart. Now to the left is a moving cannon. It is hard to hit because it is moving diagonally. You'll need to get close to it to nail it with your grenades. Then head up and you'll see a chopper to the left that you can take. Two moving cannons will be on the right side. You'll need to destroy them both before getting into the chopper. The red soldier in the area drops an L. Get in the chopper now. You have 28 seconds of fuel left so there isn't much time. You will fly along the left side and make a beeline straight up. Do not stop for anything. The only thing you need to watch out for are self destruct soldiers and land mines. Do not blow up enemy choppers or you'll get caught in the explosion. You'll encounter some red soldiers as you fly across. They drop F, B, S, and S in that order. You can find a hidden triple shot by firing at the yellow piping to the right of the first purple triangle wall above the chopper. Now just fly north but make sure that you are all the way to the left. You'll soon see an island in the center with pink and yellow piping. There will be underwater soldiers below you but don't worry because they are merely kamikaze soldiers. Now there should be a narrow strip of land running up the left side. It should be under you if you are flying on the far left side. Just keep firing north as you fly over this strip of land and you'll uncover a hidden SS about halfway up. Now keep flying north. A chopper passes down the center. Ignore it. Then you'll see an island to the north that has mainly yellow piping on it. Fire at the center of the south side to uncover a hidden gold box. Then continue flying north. You should see some small islands and another chopper. A self destruct soldier on the left side will be unable to kill you if you keep flying up along the far left side. You should run out of fuel right as you pass the three small islands. Head up the steps to the north to find yourself in front of the third gate. Go around the pink piping by way of the left side. Destroy both doors and you'll see the usual bullets and grenades. Do not enter the left door. That passageway is rigged with land mines. You can always just walk around them by hugging the sides of the passageway. I find it's easier to just take the right door and not have to avoid any mines at all. Gate 3 ====== Head up and you'll see plenty of tanks. A yellow tank appears from the middle. Destroy it. Then you'll see a yellow tank move across from the left side. Destroy it and then head left until you are standing between the two left columns of tanks. You should have triggered a land mine. Shoot the floor above the mine to find a hidden heart. Now go north and stay between the left tanks. Now you'll see another yellow tank to your north and two more yellow tanks on the right hand side. A red soldier will also be there. He drops a B. Destroy only the left yellow tank. Then head up until the bottom tank on the right goes off the screen. Now you only have one tank to deal with. Be careful when going near the center because there are land mines and homing sensors placed in the center. You will see another red soldier approach from the center. He has a B. Now there will be more purple tunnels to pick from. There are five altogether. I will label them 1-5 again starting from the left. Tunnel 1 has a missile soldier inside. Tunnel 2 has nothing. Tunnel 3 has a land mine at the end. Tunnel 4 has nothing. Tunnel 5 has a hidden knife. Just fire up into it to find it. Based on this evaluation, tunnel 5 is the preferred tunnel if you don't have a knife. Otherwise go for tunnel 4. Now you'll see an area split into three paths by pink pipes. The left path has a homing sensor at the opening in the pink pipes to the left so don't take it. Go for the middle path instead. If you are in a tank, then you are probably running low on fuel. Quickly navigate your way to the northernmost cone. Shoot the yellow pipes directly south of this cone to find a hidden H. This will add 200 seconds of fuel which is far more than you need. Head up and you'll see a yellow tank. Don't bother hiding behind the cones because it is equipped with missiles. Destroy the tank and head up by way of the left side. There is a homing sensor near the center so keep an eye out for it. You will now see four land bridges leading up. Yellow tanks will be patrolling every bridge except the far left one. Take the left bridge. This means that you only need to destroy the left tank. Then you can cross without fear of getting shot. You will see some water after you cross the bridges. There will be two red soldiers on the screen. Kill them both for L's. Now I hope you haven't moved the screen too much. You should still be able to see the end of the four bridges. Now look at the water between the two bridges closest to the left. Line yourself up so that you are north of this water. Then head up and fire at the second stream of water (the one with the land mine) to find a hidden SS in the water. If that sounds confusing, then just stand on the land between the two water streams and then stand on the fourth block from the left side. Fire north and you'll find it. Now you'll see a yellow tank moving across the land bridge. Destroy the tank from the southern land bridge or you'll get hit by the mines in the water. Cross after you've taken care of the tank. Head up and you'll see stairs that cover nearly the entire screen. You don't have time to admire the scenery though because a self destruct soldier will be coming at you from the left side. He is the one that runs down the left side of the steps near the mine. You might want to move left or right because he has difficulty climbing stairs. As an aside, if you get the self destruct soldier to explode near the land mine, it will also be destroyed. Anyway, head up along the left side of the stairs and you'll see a second self destruct soldier coming towards you from the right side. Kill him and then get in the water. Face north and fire at the steps. You'll find a hidden heart. Now head up and you'll see more stairs and two tanks on a narrow path cutting through the stairs. Do not enter the bottom tank because there is a land mine placed directly under that tank. Take the top tank instead. There are two things to do before you enter the top tank. First, get on top of it first. Then turn right. Fire at the steps directly to the right of the tank to uncover a hidden triple shot. Now the second thing you need to do is to slowly move up until you can see the two homing missile soldiers to the north. Do not move too far up or you'll lose the tank or get attacked by the homing missile soldiers. Now here's how to take them out. You probably have noticed that you automatically start sliding whenever you are on any stairs. Well, you are going use this knowledge to your advantage. Make sure that you are out of the homing missile soldiers' attack range. Now you will get on the stairs, face north and start sliding. Then fire and kill the soldiers as they come into your line of fire. Note that this tactic only works if you have long range shots. Otherwise you may have to sacrifice your tank to get past them. Now you will see a land bridge zigzagging to the northeast. The red soldier in the water drops an F. The submerged soldier is just a kamikaze soldier which is nothing against your tank. Head up and you'll see another submerged soldier north of the land bridge. This one is a self destruct soldier so take him out while he's still in the water. You'll now see a red soldier coming from the center. He has a B. Don't go after the red soldier because there are land mines on the bridge. It is very easy to lose your focus and land on the mine if you're too busy going after the red soldier. It should not be a surprise that the red soldier appears directly north of a mine. Now you'll see a bunker at the end of the land bridge. Watch out for the mine south of the bunker. Destroy the bunker for bullets and grenades. Now you have two paths heading north. Take the left one and fire at the floor tiles as you head up. You'll uncover a knife on the tiles left of the top right pool. Now you'll be fighting black soldiers. Don't worry because they die as easily as regular soldiers. You'll then be in front of four tunnels. I'll call them tunnels 1-4 starting from the left again. Tunnels 1 and 4 are safe. Tunnels 2 and 3 both have land mines in them and there is no way to walk around them. Taking tunnels 1 or 4 would be the smart thing to do right? Well, tunnel 3 has a hidden triple shot in it. It's not particularly useful unless you don't have other gun powerups. However, if you do choose to get it, then you need to stop right after you get it because there is a land mine directly above the spot it appears. Now take either tunnel 1 or tunnel 4 up to the gate. You'll then realize why tunnels 2 and 3 both had mines. The reason was to make killing the two fortress guards by the gate more difficult. This isn't a problem for those with long range or B- grenades. However, killing them without powerups requires good timing and a little luck. Take them both out and then destroy the skull door. Then get the fuel and head through the gate. Gate 4 ====== You'll be greeted immediately by a fortress guard on the wall above you. Clear the area of soldiers first. The red soldier drops an S. Grenade the guard after you have cleared enough soldiers. Now head up along the right side. Stay close to the right side the entire time. You'll come across another red soldier. He also drops an S. Now you'll see a very tight opening between the purple walls on the right. You should be able to see the mine. What you need to do is to carefully move into the small space between the left of the mine and the purple wall. It is tricky but possible to squeeze through. As you head up you will see an FL soldier on the wall to the north. Squeezing through the small space gives you a perfect vantage point from which to kill the soldier. The red soldiers that you see on the screen both have L's. Carefully head down the center but keep an eye out for land mines. Now stay to the left side. You'll see fortress guards on the walls on both sides. Two flame thrower soldiers are between them. Kill the fortress guards first. Then pick off the flame thrower soldiers. You'll need to do all this on foot. This also applies to those with tanks because the tank will not be able to past the stairs so there's no point in staying in the tank any longer. There is a hidden heart under the left flame thrower soldier. You should have found it as you were killing the soldier. After you wipe out everyone, just head north. Stay on the steps. They may slow you down but not as much as walking in water does. Watch out for kamikaze soldiers as you charge ahead. You'll soon come to two tunnels. A fortress guard is positioned high atop the wall between the tunnels. Take him down first. Now you have a choice. The left tunnel has a hidden H in it while the right tunnel has a hidden SS. Both are found by just shooting inside of each tunnel. Unless you really, really need ammo, I advise taking the right tunnel. If you are careful, you can get your cake and eat it too because you can move up to get the H and then double back around to the right tunnel and be on your way. Watch out for a self destruct soldier in the tunnels. Now on the other side of the tunnel is the reason why we took it instead of the left one, the FL soldier. He is high on the right wall. If you had taken the left route, then he would have had an easier time sniping you. In the center is a fortress guard. Left of him is a homing missile soldier. Kill the fortress guard. Don't waste your time with the homing missile soldier. Just head up the right path. You'll now be at the foot of a gate. Shoot the top of the oil drum to find a hidden heart. Now you have the same old fortress guards to take care of. Kill the left one first because he's easier to kill. Now the cone on the right will make killing the right guard a pain. Try to find a good angle and let him have a taste of your grenades. Destroy the skull door afterwards. Grab the fuel and bullets that the door leaves behind. Now move up slowly until you see the next pair of fortress guards. Killing these two will be tough without F or L powerups. If you have them both, then just run back to the front of the gate, line up under them, and fire away. If you don't have these powerups then you'll need to quickly run up, turn and toss a grenade, and then run back. Hopefully, you will dodge the guards' B-grenades. Now head through the rest of the gate. Gate 5 ====== You'll immediately see a red soldier. He carries an F. Then you should spot a homing missile soldier on an island to the northwest. Head down the center of the screen and you'll see a self destruct soldier rush out from the center. You are in the perfect position to kill him so waste him before he wastes you. Head up and you'll now see a missile soldier to the right. A red soldier appears in the center. He carries a B. Now head up and you'll see a stationary yellow tank on the left island. Although the pink pipes to the left prevent an easy grenade toss, it won't matter since you picked up B- grenades. A red soldier will come at you from the right side. He also drops a B. Head up the center and a self destruct soldier comes down. Kill him quickly. Now you should see that pink pipes split the path forward in two. Do not go up the right side. It leads to a dead end. However, if you stand on the far right side and shoot north towards the water at the top, then you will find a hidden heart. Unfortunately, after you get this heart, the screen will be too far up and you will be forced to die. This renders getting the heart completely useless and detrimental if you already had a heart because now you will lose everything if you die again. Save yourself the headache and take the left side instead. Now you should have already spotted the two yellow tanks waiting for you ahead. Destroy the left one by attacking from atop the yellow pipes. Then run up along the left side. Turn right and destroy the other tank. Do not engage the other tank while you are in the water or you will surely die. Head north until you see another yellow tank to the left. It will be on top of pink pipes. Grenade it and then look at the island east of the one that the tank was one. It will have four purple floor tiles on it. Shoot the northern purple floor tile to find a hidden SS. Head up the middle and you'll see another yellow tank on the left island. Stand to the right of the leftmost pink piping and face north. You'll be safe from the tank's missiles at that location. Then grenade the tank. Now you have two paths to take. Do not go right or you'll get stuck in a dead end and this time there is no hidden heart there to save you. Continue to head down the center. You'll quickly spot a self destruct soldier swimming towards. Take him down and continue onward. You'll see four land bridges leading up. Two yellow tanks patrol the two middle bridges. You can destroy them both with one B-grenade by tossing it in the center pool of water. The explosion radius is wide enough to take them both out. Now head up through the middle pool of water. A red soldier comes at you from the right pool of water. He leaves an L behind. A self destruct soldier will run at you from the left pool of water. Killing him will be easy since he has trouble scaling the steps. Don't get careless and get shot by him. Now you will come across four tunnels. I'll label them 1-4 starting from the left. Tunnels 1 and 3 both have homing sensors in them so take tunnel 4 instead. Tunnel 2 is also safe but tunnel 4 is faster. Now you'll see three skull doors but no fortress guards. Take out the doors. The right door is the only one that drops nothing behind. The other two both have land mines in them so take the right door to avoid the mines. You've now passed through gate 6. Gate 6 ====== You'll be immediately attacked by two moving cannons. The right cannon will be your immediate threat if you took the right door through the gate. Destroy whichever cannon is closest to you. Then take out the other. Now head up along the left side. You'll see two more moving cannons on the right side. You should see a red octagon pattern on the left side. Stand under it. Now wait for an opportunity to attack the left cannon. Then you should have noticed that the other cannon is nowhere to be found. It actually went up off the screen and will return in a little while. Move over to the right and wait for it to come back. You can move the screen forward to help speed things up. Destroy the cannon after it reappears. Then stand to the right of the red octagon pattern and head up to fight a super tank. It's been awhile since you last fought one of these so take it out with some grenades. Now head up. You'll see five tunnels. I'll label them 1-5 starting from the left again. Do not take any of them. Every one except the middle one is rigged with a land mine that is unavoidable. Instead, stand in front of tunnel 4. Then shoot up through it. You'll uncover a hidden heart. Then head up. You will see a new enemy, the armored soldier. This guy can be treated like a regular soldier except for two differences. The first difference is that he fires lasers. Although the lasers may look deadly, they will not kill you if you have a knife. The second difference is that the soldiers will explode (regular grenade sized explosion) if you kill them. This means that you cannot use the knife powerup to kill them through contact. Getting the immunity from lasers more than justifies losing the ability to kill the soldiers through contact. Just keep away from them and you'll be fine. Now you should run up through the opening between tunnel 2 and the cone. Then you will see two moving cannons. You only have a second to quickly toss a B-grenade up after you see them. The grenade will destroy both cannons if you threw it fast enough. If you weren't fast enough, then you will need to move left or right to avoid the missiles that got fired by the cannons. Head up and you'll see red carpeting going down the center. This should clue you in that you are in the final area if you haven't already figured it out from fighting the armored soldiers. Head up the center of the carpet and fire away. You'll find a hidden heart on the near the center of the carpet between the second and third row of purple floor tiles on the sides of the carpet. Head up the middle and you'll soon see two more moving cannons. Quickly toss a grenade to destroy them. Now to the right is an armored L soldier. Think of him as an FL soldier. Take him down. Then head up and you'll see another armored L soldier come out from the left side. Take him down as well. You'll now be at a gate. The left soldier above the gate is an armored L soldier. The right one is an armored fortress guard. Take out the L soldier first. Then kill the fortress guard. Destroy the door to find fuel. Head on through the gate. Gate 7 ====== Start firing down the middle to find a hidden heart at the bottom of the carpet. Now I hope you still have a knife on you or the armored soldiers will be difficult to pass. Leave nothing to chance and waste everyone as you head up. Stay to the left of the carpet. You'll soon come to gray flashing floor tiles. To your north are two armored missile soldiers. These guys will chase after you and explode with B-grenade radius if you kill them. The left soldier will be your immediate threat. Quickly shoot or grenade him from a distance. Do not kill him in close range or the explosion will kill you. The other soldier should have been caught against a wall if you were far enough to the left. Run diagonally to him and finish him off. Now stand on the far left or far right side of the carpet. I strongly recommend the far right side. Make sure that you are still on the carpet however. Then head up and you'll face the final boss of the game. Since he looks like a skull, why not call the boss "Skull Face?" Now his attack is to spit out two fireballs that explode like B-grenades. However, his aim is just like every other enemy in the game. So if you stay to one side of his face, you can dodge his shots. Do not stand left or right of the red carpet or Skull Face will shoot diagonally at you. Standing directly in front of Skull Face is obviously a suicide mission. Before I forget, you can no longer use the continue code once you start fighting Skull Face. Now if you look carefully, you should see six blocks in front of Skull Face that look different from the other floor tiles. These blocks cannot be passed through. This is the reason why you should stay on the right side of the carpet. If you look at it, you will see that you can approach Skull Face from the right side without having to waste time going around the blocks. However, heading up via the left side of the carpet will force you to go around the block in your way. Doing so will definitely cause Skull Face to fire diagonally at you. It should be apparent that the black and gray striped lines running diagonally out from Skull Face are actually walls and cannot be passed through. It is also interesting to note that you can stand on Skull Face himself without dying. Only his shots can kill you. Anyway, just get within grenade range and toss grenades at Skull Face until he blows up. You need to be close enough or you'll get caught by Skull Face's shot explosions. His face will start to flash red after you inflict enough damage. It takes around 10-15 grenades to destroy him. He will leave a gold heart behind. Now you have two options. You can finish the game now or continue playing from the beginning with your score intact. If you want to win the game now, then grab the gold heart. You will get 40,000 bonus points. You should have over 500,000 points if you never continued since the start of the game. If you want to keep playing then recall how you finished area 3. Recall that you found a hidden staircase by tossing a grenade at the right spot. For this part, the right spot is on the row of spaces directly above the red carpet and below the six impassable blocks. Just systematically grenade each spot along that row and you'll find a hidden staircase. The location is different every time but it usually is around the center although it sometimes can be found farther out. Enter it to finish area 4. You'll get 40,000 bonus points like usual. Then you won't see the congratulatory message. Instead, you will start at area 1. Your score will remain intact as will your items if you still had a heart when you entered the stairs. Congratulations on finishing the game no matter what option you choose. Now I present the ending in all its glory. Trust me it's not that great. Yes, the text is the exact message that is said. You have accomplished the mission. You are the very prevailer that protect right and justice. I would express my sincere. Thanks to you. Take good rest! General Kawasaki ============================================================================= IX. SECRETS AND CODES ============================================================================= Secrets ======= Continue Code ------------- Press A, B, B, A after you die to continue. Player 2 may use this code to enter a one player game at any time. Stage Select ------------ This code must be done at the title screen after both Paul and Vince finish firing and you can see the text "1 Player 2 Players." Press on controller one: up, down, A, A, B, left, right, A, B, up, A, down, right, right, left, B, up, left, A, right, B, left, right, A, left, up, A, down, A, right, left, B, and start. You may press SELECT at any time during the code to pick the 2 player option. You will see the plane crash sequence. Then the word "area 1" will appear on the screen. Press the A or B buttons to change the number. Press START again to begin playing at the selected area. The code needs to be entered before the game starts playing the demo. Share a Vehicle --------------- If you are playing with two players, there are situations where you will only find one tank/chopper or where one of you has lost his/her tank/chopper. In that case, you can share the vehicle. First have both players be outside the vehicle. Now position both players near the vehicle. Then have a player enter the vehicle. While that player is still entering the vehicle and making the "glowing effect," just have the other player enter the vehicle. The result is that both players will each get a copy of the vehicle. The player with the duplicated vehicle should be careful when leaving it because it has a high rate of self destruction if you leave it before it is damaged. Should both players leave their vehicles freely, then the duplicated one will disappear. Game Genie codes (from GameGenie.com) ===================================== Begin with 1 life PAUYPTLA Begin with 6 lives TAUYPTLA Begin with 9 lives PAUYPTLE Begin with 50 bullets instead of 99 ZUNNLZLT Begin with 25 grenades instead of 50 PPEYALZU Begin with 99 grenades instead of 50 LTEYALZL Infinite lives SXSNZTVI Infinite bullets SZONZSVS Infinite grenades SXEYZSVS Infinite tank rounds SXXNVUVS ============================================================================= X. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ============================================================================= Q: I'm at the end of area 3 and there is a desk with a dead body. What do I do now? A: You need to first kill the body off by tossing grenades at it or letting the missiles destroy it. After you kill the body off, you need to throw grenades at the row of spaces in front of the desk (area with the shadows on the floor) but between the yellow piping. There are a total of 10 squares between the yellow piping that you can grenade. One of them has the hidden staircase in it. The location is different each game so keep tossing grenades at each square until the staircase appears. You can usually find it in the shadows. You must have destroyed the dead body or the staircase will not appear. Q: Is it really possible to finish the game without dying? A: Yes, but you'd probably have a better chance at winning the lottery than accomplishing this goal. Q: The scoreboard has room for up to one million points. How do I get that many points? A: Well first you need to make sure that you don't game over or you'll lose your score. The second is that you can play the game forever. Each time through the game will net you 500,000 points so you need to win twice to get a million. Q: How can I play the game forever? Doesn't the game end eventually? A: Well it depends. You see, after you defeat the final boss, you can choose to see the ending by grabbing the gold heart or continue playing by finding the hidden staircase and entering it. The staircase is found by tossing a grenade at the row of spaces just above the red carpet. Q: I'm stuck in a wall. How do I get out? A: Try moving around or grenading a wall section. If you are stuck in a wall then you can just wait for the missiles to get fired. Their purpose is primarily to kill you but I think of it as a way to unjam yourself. This will cost you a life though. Q: Which player is Paul and which one is Vince? A: Paul is the one in red while Vince is the one in blue. Player 1 controls Paul and player 2 controls Vince. ============================================================================= XI. CREDITS ============================================================================= This FAQ used information from the following sources. GameGenie.com - Game Genie codes. Nintendo Power vol. 6 (May/June 1989). - stage select code Rovin, Jeff. "How to Win at Nintendo Games" St. Martin's Press. 1988, 1989. - names of Little Athena, macho men, oil drum soldiers, task force soldiers, info on H powerup, continue code ============================================================================= XII. CONTACT/LEGAL INFORMATION ============================================================================= Disclaimer and FAQ Distribution ------------------------------- This FAQ is neither affiliated nor endorsed by SNK Electronics Corp. It may be distributed FREELY so long as it remains unaltered AND is the latest version (see above for where to obtain the latest version). It is intended for PRIVATE USE and may NOT be reproduced for commercial or non-commercial purposes by mechanical, electronic, or any other means. Do not try to sell it even if no profit is made off this work. In addition, this FAQ may not be used for personal gain by submission to game magazines, web sites, etc. It may not be used as part of any archive, compilation, or anything similar without prior consent by me. Contact Info ------------ Any tips, corrections, suggestions, etc relating to the game may be sent to me via email at darktoshi@yahoo.com. Include the game title in the email subject so I will know what game that you are talking about. Also, please make sure that you are reading the latest version BEFORE you email me. Copyright © 2003 Wilson Lau.