Moon Patrol(arcade) FAQ version 1.0.0 copyright 2002 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net Please do not repost for profit without my consent. A simple e-mail referring to this game specifically and to me by name should be enough. I don't profit off this and really like to think twice before letting others do so. ** AD SPACE ** My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762 ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. ENEMY ENTITIES 3-1. INVULNERABLE 3-2. GROUND, VULNERABLE 3-3. IN THE AIR 3-4. THE GAME'S GENERAL RANDOMNESS AND GRAPHICAL BOO-BOOS 4. POINTS 5. COURSE WALKTHROUGHS 5-1. BEGINNER COURSE 5-1-1. START TO E 5-1-2. E TO J 5-1-3. J TO O 5-1-4. O TO T 5-1-5. T TO Z 5-2. CHAMPION COURSE 1 5-2-1. START TO E 5-2-2. E TO J 5-2-3. J TO O 5-2-4. O TO T 5-2-5. T TO Z 5-3. BEYOND CHAMPION COURSE 1 6. VERSIONS 7. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Moon Patrol is a wonderful classic game. It is a scroller(objects come right to left) which requires pattern recognition, but there is some randomization involved. Monsters from above seem to be random, and your buggy can shoot both to the right and up. You can speed up and slow down, and although this doesn't sound like much there's a good deal of nuance. You also have the concept of checkpoints for the first time I can remember. In each game you try to get from the start through 26 checkpoints to the letter Z. Every five letters the computer records the time it took to get there and potentially gives you a bonus, and if you crash you start at the last letter you passed. Each five-letter sub- course also records record times. There are two full courses, beginner and champion, and many of the scenarios build logically on previous ones, with new bad guys being added with each five-letter level. The game even had a continue feature, and I remember watching in rapt attention as Big College Kids managed to get past the stuff I saw on the demo but could never quite get to. With unlimited continues and you being pushed back only so far on the course, you can probably figure out how to get through the game eventually. But I wrote this so that people could try to get bonuses on every single course and maybe(probably?) beat my records on later courses. 2. CONTROLS The controls may seem a bit unresponsive at first, but I believe that is just the game being devious and, to some extent, logical. Spaceships with hyperdrive or whatever always move extra-quick. However your little dune buggy has a thing called acceleration and it's not quite a sports car. So if you move faster or slower it takes a bit of time to register that. This requires a bit of anticipation and also makes sure you can't solve a course with a bunch of late cop-outs. For specific obstacles the best speeds or firing routines will be discussed later, but for now I'll just discuss acceleration. On your fastest speed you can make it from one point to the next in about 12 seconds. On medium speed it takes 16 seconds. On slow speed it seems to take about 24 seconds. I can't verify this because for the most part you have to jump over pits or speed up to avoid missiles(bad guys are harder to hit when going slow) even on easy levels but it makes sense for the following: Let X=fastest, Y=medium, Z=slowest. Assume Y-Z = X-Y which seems reasonable; your car is midway between the slowest/fastest when you don't touch the controls. Dist/X = Time(X), Dist/Y = Time(Y), Dist/Z = Time(Z). So x = 4 * y / 3, and z = 2 * y / 3. So Time(Z) = (3/2) Time(y) = 24 seconds, roughly. I usually wind up with 22 seconds or so between points when going slow. The faster you go, the less you'll be able to see ground obstacles. However with flying enemies likely to hang around the center it may be easier to shoot them. Also the faster you go the more likely you can jump a ground enemy even if you're more likely to run into them. The earlier part of the game's a bit tedious on slow once you have the hang of it, and it's fun to go fast when you can. Also a fastest jump will make it over a big pit with a rock to the right. No need to time your shot. Note that how long you hold the jump button does not affect the jump's height. Firing is also tricky. You can have four vertical shots on the screen at any one time but only one horizontal one. So often I've made three quick shots at a big rock and crashed. Why? Because my first shot hadn't disappeared yet. I find four quick shots allows for two horizontal shots with the four verticals, but if you need to time your firing exactly, wait for your first shot to make the big explosion then disappear. And slow down if you must. Note that your ground-fire explodes into a ball of fire at the end. Combining jumping and firing is also useful with bad guys overhead; if you know there's nothing on the ground for a while, fire and jump; this will cause your shots to disperse more quickly, and they will be closer to the enemies when they start, too. One final thing: jumping and firing also work for obstacles on the ground. If there's a rock past a pit that it doesn't look like you can land and shoot, shoot just as you jump. Often you'll be able to get your shot to explode at the end, taking out the rock before your jump reaches its zenith. 3. ENEMY ENTITIES 3-1. INVULNERABLE Pits I suppose count as invulnerable. There are small and large ones. You can jump across the large ones at regular speed if you time it right but the smaller ones are easier to deal with. At the slowest you cannot jump over a small pit. You can change speed while over a pit just as if you were driving. It's cool to watch. Mines appear later in the game and cannot be shot. They don't take up much width but are generally spaced so you can't make a huge jump over them--or you even have to go a bit slower for several mines in a row. 3-2. GROUND, VULNERABLE Rocks are a nuisance. They come in three sizes: big, small and medium. Big rocks require two hits and are made up of two pieces in fact. You'll need to go fast to jump over them. They are also not easy to shoot point blank or if you are going fast, as ground shots take time to recharge. Medium rocks are easy to shoot and jump over. Small rocks are very easy to jump over but a pain to shoot. The best way to be sure is to slow down just as you're about to shoot, otherwise you may shoot, and if you are too close, your shot goes over the rock before it disperses. Tanks often fire missiles at you although if you speed up to approach them you can confuse them and nail them without a shot. Two ground shots in succession, at a high speed, should dispose of them. Poppers are multicolored blobs that move up and down in semicolored pits. Most of the time you won't be able to shoot them, and most of the time they won't cause any problems with your jump--although on rare occasions they may touch you during a jump, in which case--BANG! Cars sometimes sit behind you and rush forward although never at too inconvenient a time. Don't panic when you see them and you can jump over them and hit them from behind. 3-3. IN THE AIR There are three sorts of enemies that attack you from the air: claws, saucers and triads. Saucers are gold ovals. Claws have several colors. Triads are three silver circles bound together. Claws and saucers seem to do the same thing. They drop caret-shaped missiles down on you, which do not accelerate horizontally but do so vertically. It will take some time to adjust to these, but usually if you shoot right before they're above your vertical shooter, that will knock them out. Missiles also have a nasty property of protecting the ship that just sent them. Fortunately you can reciprocate in kind(in which case it's skill not luck) and often when one is coming down at you, a quick acceleration/deceleration can nail the missile just before it gets you. Finally note the fact(but don't rely on it) that missiles touching your buggy's very ends may not kill you; they're even more lenient when you're in the air, although you are also a bit more vulnerable then to having one dropped on you. Claws and saucers may slightly avoid you as they drop hooking missiles on you, but a little backing up/going forward can get rid of them. Triads are the nastiest; they fire ahead of you, making missiles harder to shoot down but less immediately lethal. These missiles create small pits which can be quite awkward if strung together or placed in front of pits. It's exceptionally nasty when triads insist on staying on the right half of the screen. They aren't any more sneaky than claws or saucers other than that, though, but since they don't directly attack you, jumping and shooting is an even better way to wipe them out--unless they've dropped pits ahead of you. You seem to be able to goad the ships over to the left if you slow down. Deceleration/acceleration may fool and put paid to 'cheaters' who try to hang around on the right. 3-4. THE GAME'S GENERAL RANDOMNESS AND GRAPHICAL BOO-BOOS Listed in approximate order of relevance. --shoot an alien ship as it falls and it remains on the screen, with its point total --bombs dropped in pits explode on the surface --occasionally you'll miss an enemy you appear to hit, but it works the other way around too --occasionally the enemy missiles will hit your very edge and nothing will happen. Don't get too used to this happening, though! --when you jump but still fall in a pit, you always make it halfway between the edge before falling in. 4. POINTS Points are fairly straightforward. You get more points for shooting something than for jumping over it. Now that we've defined the entities we can show the points you get for taking them out. --100 points for claws or saucers --200 points for triads --no points for any missiles flying enemies shoot at you --500 point bonus for wiping out a group of 3 flying enemies --800 points for a group of 4 --1000 for a group of 5. Note they must all appear at the same time and be of the same sort; 2 claws + 2 saucers just after are as tough as 4 claws, but you don't get the bonus for them. --no combos for jumping over 2 items although you do get points for both of them --50 points for shooting a barrel(any size) rolling down a hill --100 points for jumping over the barrel --50 points for jumping over a small rock --80 points for jumping over a regular rock --100 points for jumping over a 2-part rock although if you shoot the half that doesn't look like a rock you get 80; shoot the half that does and jump, you get 20. --100 points for shooting a rock, any size; big 2-part rocks get 200 --50 points for jumping over a small pit --100 points for jumping over a small pit --100 points for jumping over a tank --200 points for shooting a tank --no points for shooting the tank's missile --500/800/1000 points for the car that sneaks up behind you, depending on how far away it is from you(farther=less points) but no points for jumping it --300/500/800 points for shooting the poppers, 100 for jumping them --5000 points for completing beginner course --10000 points for completing champion course --conditional points for completing a course segment are listed in the walkthrough below. 5. COURSE WALKTHROUGHS I've tried to highlight the quickest way to get through each scenario, which consists of five small courses. Should you lose a life, you are backed up to the last letter you passed. The Atari version is a bit stricter than this(letter must go off screen) than the arcade(rear of buggy must pass point) and often just at a letter you'll find a tough puzzle. In the beginner course you can pretty much go full speed ahead, but things are much tougher on the champion course. I use some terminology and punctuation for specific purposes here, namely: rock + small rock = rock and small rock in very quick succession rock,small rock = rock and small rock a reasonable distance apart I'll try to list important strategies that may apply over a large part of a fragment in brackets in my walkthrough. 5-1. TIMES AND BONUSES You get no bonus if you are above the average time. Otherwise bonuses are as listed below: Beginner courses: moon base-E 1000 + 100 * (80-time) E-J 1000 + 100 * (80-time) J-O 1000 + 100 * (100-time) O-T 1000 + 100 * (100-time) T-Z + 100 * (100-time) + 5000 given as special bonus unconditionally Champion courses: moon base-E 2000 + 100 * (100-time) E-J 2000 + 100 * (100-time) J-O 2000 + 100 * (120-time) O-T 2000 + 100 * (120-time) T-Z 100 * (120-time) + 10000 given as special bonus unconditionally Note that T-Z actually has six stops while the other courses only have four. 5-2. BEGINNER COURSE You can pretty much get through this course without having to worry too much about your speed; I cruise through it as fast as possible and only slow down to avoid missiles I'd otherwise be running into without a chance to shoot, or when it's obvious I'll need to(see: J to L, the mines placed in the path.) 5-2-1. START TO E This shouldn't require you to slow down much, and as you get better you'll want to try to run all the way through this. Background = hill and mountains. The game alternates the scenarios in each course fragments between this and city/mountains but in beginner and chmpion it starts with the hills. The main difference in colorings is that your buggy changes from purple to red. To get to point A you will need to jump over two pits, which is easy, shoot a rock, jump a pit and shoot a rock. --350 points total For course fragment A-B two claws appear, followed by two saucers. There are no land obstacles, so take them out. --400 points total For course fragment B-C a rock appears with two claws shortly after. There's another rock after these and then a rock. pit, rock, and rock. You'll need to start coordinating ground obstacles with air attacks here. Be sure when you jump that there's no rock or pit ahead, and slow up if necessary. --750 points total For course fragment C-D there is a pit and pit followed by three saucers and a rock. This is your first chance to get a big bonus and you may want to start trying the trick of jumping to anticipate when the aerial enemies will appear. It could get you a lucky hit. --900 points total For course fragment D-E you will want to kill off the two triads that appear and then the two claws fairly quickly. If not they may interfere with jumping over/shooting the rock. There's a pit after that and if the triads are still hanging around they may drop a missile that may make it awkward to jump over two at the same time. --750 points total My minimum time for solving this course is 59 seconds, flooring the controls right. This gets a bonus of 2100+1000=3100. So the maximum for start to E is 6250. 5-2-2. E TO J Again I'm assuming you're going full speed ahead. For parts it may be a good idea for people to go at regular speed. Usually there's a way to go fast 90% of the time although there are some clear traps involving combinations of ground obstacles in this course. For course fragment E-F you have 2 triads quickly followed by 2 saucers. Kill them quickly and you won't have to worry about the combo of them, a pit and a rock some time after that. --750 points total For course fragment F-G you have a pit, then a huge pit and a small rock just after that. Go slow if you must after you clear the huge pit! Go too fast and you may overshoot the small rock, which is only vulnerable to the end of a ground shot. If you are relatively new to the game you can also go at regular speed to jump over the big pit before you hit it and then fire. **side comment: a shooting spree is ahead--be sure to time your shot on a big rock so that you're as far away as possible before shooting it, but if not, take evasive action and either slow down or make a perfect jump.** Rock, big rock, rock, small rock, pit, rock, rock --1000 points total For course fragment G-H you have 2 triads and 2 claws. A strange little break but I guess you've earned it. For course fragment H-I you have 3 triads, a rock, a big pit, bick rock, small rock, big rock and big pit. You may want to slow up briefly at the small rock again. The half-second or 100 points it may cost you is less important than a life. I've managed to get through this level in the minimum 59 seconds. However often I've needed to slow up to avoid enemy fire. Maximum bonus = 3100 points. 5-2-3. J TO O This starts out a bit different, and you're introduced to obstacles a little more exacting than just a bigger pit--that's right. This is also the first level you can't 'floor' your way through. The mines require you to keep your hands off the speed control, and the fire button doesn't do much good either. It's a matter of timing and not pushing the jump button too quickly. Try to jump just when you land if you have a bunch of mine groups in a row spaced pretty close together. I define a pair of mines as two a wheel-distance apart from each other, and 2 close mines being ones where you need some precision in jumping to get over them. The first bit isn't very exciting. You just need to get a lot of jumping right and don't touch the accelerator except to slow down a bit in case you seem to be getting too close to the mines. For course fragment J-K you have 2 close, 2 close, a pair, a single, and 3 close:single, pair, single. For course fragment K-L you have single, single, pair, single(?), 4 single close, pair, and 3 close singles. For course fragment L-M you have pair, pair, pair, single, pair, pair, single, single, single. For course fragment M-N you have 4 claws followed by 3 saucers. There's a lot above you so you may have to change gears, but you don't have any other distractions to worry about. For course fragment N-O you have 4 triads followed by 3 saucers. Similar to M-N, but watch out for if the triads fire a few missiles in a row; you may have to slow down a bit to make good jumps over two consecutive pits. My best time for getting through all this is 72 seconds. I don't suspect one can do much better; long jumps over two mines seem verboten. 5-2-4. O TO T This one is a bit on the easy side, even a little sparse. But it's a nice break between two tough scenes. The barrels provide the majority of the difficulty, but if you keep your head on straight they are not too bad. You even move up and down on the screen. Now this makes for an interesting dynamic; it's easier to shoot your enemies but easier for them to attack you. I suggest jumping and shooting them quickly--you can get even more shots that way(with a maximum four shots on the screen at once, they disappear more quickly when you have less space to fire them in.) There still seems to be enough time to maneuver your buggy to avoid a shot you might not be able to shoot. For course fragment O-P you have 4 triads followed by 3 claws. See N-O for the strategy here. --2600 total points For course fragment P-Q you have barrels rolling at you. You're on a constant up slope which never seems to move up the screen as it should, and instead it is just angled. I find you can maybe cut a second or two off by accelerating when no barrels are in view and slowing down if you've memorized when 2 barrels will come, but that's a bit much for 200 points. I prefer to sit in the middle and just shoot them. They come as follows: small, big, 2 big, medium, 2 big, big, 2 big, small, big. You're not shot at, so the enemies are defenseless even if they do move quickly towards you. For course fragment Q-R you have 4 saucers, a big rock, a big pit, and a big rock. Be sure to slow down for the big rock if you miss it with your first shot. You can probably dispose of the saucers pretty quickly while jumping, but keep an extra eye out for missiles--less time to contact means less time for you to react. For course fragment R-S you travel down a hill and have 2 saucers and 2 triads. This view may be a bit disorienting, and bombs may not quite drop where you think they will, so be prepared to use your intuition a bit. But it's probably the easiest one once you're oriented. For course fragment S-T you face 3 claws and 3 triads. This is again not too tough. --1900 total points My record time here is 61 seconds, which gets a nice bonus-- 3900+1000=4900. 5-2-5. T TO Z A new enemy, the tank, is introduced here. There's a way to shoot down a tank without it firing at you if you go slow and speed up, but most of the time you just need two shots: one as it shoots at you and one just after, when the tank is defenseless. There are also combinations of pits, rocks and overhead enemies you haven't encountered before, and you may need to slow down a bit near the end to get through without losing a buggy. For course fragment T-U you start out shooting a big rock and jumping a big pit and a small pit. Then there's a rock, big pit, small pit. Then a big rock is on the left edge of a big pit and you may want to go slow to jump the small pit for the first part of U-V. For course fragment U-V there are two rocks right away; if you crashed here you may need to jump over the small pit again, and now you may see why you need to do so slowly. Then there are two tanks, which I've mentioned how to deal with. Then after a bit of a break there are four tanks in a row; you may need to slow down to make sure you can shoot the last one before you run into it. For course fragment V-W you start with two close sets of two big pits. Then you go uphill with the following sequence: 1 big log, 2 medium ones in a row, big one, small, and 2 small(slow down for these last ones.) For course fragment W-X you have 4 claws and 3 saucers. They seem to shoot more frequently than in the earlier stages. For course fragment X-Y you have 4 saucers then 3 triads. If the triads start dropping missiles and you're not able to kill them quickly, go back to regular speed until they're all gone. For course fragment Y-Z you have 3 saucers then 3 triads then a rock. The triads tend to be nasty here about shooting at the exact wrong point before the rock(or so it seems) so either you jump early to fire and try to anticipate when the triads will appear and hope to get lucky, or you fire just after you jump over any pit the triad creates. After the rock you have two big pits and then a big rock, after which you've completed the beginner course. Yay! 5-3. CHAMPION COURSE 1 The champion course starts out easier than the final beginner course levels. However, the combinations it uses can get rather maddening, and eventually it becomes no longer possible to whiz through any level without drastic consequences. Even the mines and barrels are more frequent or spaced more closely together. There are a lot of objects right next to a pit and some new annoying mobile ground obstacles. 5-3-1. START TO E For course fragment start-A you face 3 claws then 3 saucers. A nice way to pick up some points, I guess, and you should have this under control. For course fragment A-B you have a car behind you. It goes forward and back seven times before racing under you. You can just go full speed ahead here and jump when it's right behind you. If you jump a bit earlier you may get more points for shooting it, but it's easier to get killed. In my opinion it's not worth the risk. For course fragment B-C you have a tank, a rock, and a rock. Then there's a small rock followed by the toughest part of the level, a big pit with a tank on the right edge . Go full speed ahead, shoot the missile and jump just before you get to the edge. You'll clear the tank and the pit(I can't quite time shooting the tank to be honest.) Jump over the last big pit. For course fragment C-D you have four tanks in a row before a big pit. Slow down if you must so you don't crash into the tank. Then you have two rocks, then two tanks, the second on the left edge of a big pit. Then rock, tank, tank left of big pit. Nothing fancy for that. For course fragment D-E you have 4 claws, small pit, two big pits, two rocks, big pit, and a rock. The usual caveats about slowing down with pits and fire from above apply here, but I've been able to get through the level in 60 seconds and even 59. You will get 4100+2000=6100 bonus if you manage to do so. 5-3-2. E TO J This wave introduces you to poppers, multicolored things which appear from a pit and bob up and down. It's possible to shoot them but most of the time you're better off concentrating on how to avoid them. For course fragment E-F you have one group of 3 triads followed soon by another. For course fragment F-G you have a big rock on the left edge of a big pit, a rock, a rock on the right edge of a big pit(jump over both of these going full speed and try to shoot the rock,) small pit, small pit, small pit and shoot rock quickly(watch your speed), then big pit/small pit/small rock quickly in succession--don't try to tear through this either. For course fragment G-H you will be introduced to poppers, which not only act as small pits but can also nail you if you don't jump high enough. You start out with 4 triads, 4 saucers, and a big pit along the way. Slow up to nail the triads if you need to, as having that extra small pit by the big ones means trouble. Then you have a popper and a rock left of the next popper. A fast jump should get you over a popper and a regular speed one should too, but be sure to save your fire for the rock, which you can't quite make it over. For course fragment H-I you have 3 saucers, a big pit, a small pit, 3 claws, and two big pits in close succession. This isn't so bad by itself, but it leads into a nasty fragment. For course fragment I-J you have 4 triads out of the box, a big pit, a rock, a big pit, and 2 rocks left of the first of four poppers. There'll be a rock right of the final popper, but a fast jump should clear everything. You probably can't make fast jumps all the way through so alternately speed up and release the speed controls to stagger your jump timing. I think my record here is 60 seconds as there are a few delays along the way. 5-3-3. J TO O The original monsters have been depleted but the originality remains. Some nasty combos here and although much is down to chance with overhead enemies, you can put the odds in your favor by knowing the right speeds to go at. For course fragment J-K you go uphill to fight a bunch of logs. I once again recommend not touching the horizontal controls and just instead firing on them as they come--it's less of a headache than timing the jumps, but if you feel you've mastered this, by all means proceed your own way. The logs are, in order, big, medium, small, 2 big together, small, medium, 2 small followed by a big. For these three you will want to slow down after hitting the first one, which itself requires timing. Then you accelerate and jump over the small/big/small group that appears ahead of you. From there there are two mediums to shoot, and you can shoot the big/small/big and then shoot the penultimate small before jumping over the last one. Timing is rather important on this stage, and shooting the three in quick succession and still accelerating is tough to pick up at first. For course fragment K-L you have a small break in the form of 4 claws and 3 saucers. Again watch the quick missiles as you are on high ground. For course fragment L-M you have a series of mines. Here it is important to use the slightly slow jump trick. Basically you slow up a bit just before you jump over one mine in the middle of a big sequence, then you jump over the next two; your jumps should be shortened, and you should just make it over several mines without crashing into the next one ahead. The mines come in the following pattern, grouped by what's close to what: single/pair/single/single/single. Five jumps in a row are tough to pull off, but it gets even tougher. pair/single/single/single/single/single For course fragment M-N you have a pair followed by 7 singles before a set of 2 singles and then a set of 3. It kind of dies with a whimper, but before then you may need to use the slowing trick a few times. For course fragment N-O you have a small let-off although the 5 triads followed shortly by 4 claws can make things nasty; pull up and go slow if you can't nail them right away, as there are a huge rock and a rock in the distant future. Having to jump over a pit with a huge rock just in front is almost certain death. I'm not sure if I've ever gotten through all of this unscathed. I suspect it will take at least 75-80 seconds even with best play due to the frequent delays, many of which occur with the mines. By the way this is the only wave to finish with you uphill. 5-3-4. O TO T More puzzles here and more variety but not necessarily harder. For course fragment O-P you have 4 claws and then 4 saucers. There's a big rock after you've finished the downward slope. Then there's a big pit and rocks on either edge of the next big pit--shoot the left one and jump fast over the right one. Shoot the rock just after the jump. For course fragment P-Q you have another set of rocks on each edge of a large pit. Then you have a small pit, a small one, and a large one. All this while a car is running behind. Ignore it until you've jumped these pits as you'll be able to deal with it by itself. Jump over it, shoot it and jump over the big pit. For course fragment Q-R you have a big rock, rock, rock, big rock left of pit. Next up are mines, all in a row. Single/pair/single/pair/single/single. If you jump as early as possible you may be able to get through without worrying about the brief slowing trick that buys a little time. For course fragment R-S you have a tank left of a big pit, a big rock left of a small pit(shoot it and slow down to be safe.) You'll also need to slow down to dispatch the two small rocks to the right--close enough to be uncomfortable. Then there's a tank, a big pit, and a rock left of a popper. There's another popper and a big rock left of the popper. At the second popper mentioned so far you'll want a standard- speed jump before you shoot and accelerate over the third. Then there's another popper. For course fragment S-T you start off with the left half of a big rock. Go average speed here as you shoot this and the big rock ahead of it which is on the left edge of a big pit. Then there's another big rock. But you'll want to start firing as soon as you're over the pit; there are 5 triads and 3 saucers that appear as you do that, and you'll want to get rid of them quickly. Given that there's a rock further on you'll want to try to shoot the baddies above before risking it combined with a pit. Then there's another rock and a rock before the flashing T. With perfect timing you can shoot and hit the double-rock beyond the flashing T, but it doesn't help you when you have to face it again at the start of the next wave. With best play I suspect you can get down to 75 seconds. 5-3-5. T TO Z For course fragment T-U you have a big rock, big pit, small pit, and big pit. Only after this does the car behind you run at you. Jump over it and shoot it. Then there's a big pit and you're done. The car letters are not too bad once you get a feel for the timing. For course fragment U-V you start out with mines. A single, two pairs, a pair, and then a big rock. You'll want to jump over the pair at normal speed, shoot, and accelerate over the next pair of mines which are a bit apart. Then there's another rock to shoot, two pairs, and a single mine. The main trick here is to remember when the rocks come in and to be prepared to shoot them. For course fragment V-W you start with 5 triads and 4 claws. Again with a big rock ahead, take your time wiping out the enemy ships. Then there's a big pit and a rock. The main problem here is the sheer number of enemies to face. For course fragment W-X you have a rock right of the popper(shoot it or jump fast,) then two poppers and then a rock. Then a rock and big rock are extra close before there are two rocks you should blast easily. Then there's a rock on the right edge of a popper(long jump or strategic fire) followed by another popper to jump. For course fragment X-Y you have 5 triads and 4 claws coming out of the box. Then there area a rock and big rock close(you should know not to accelerate by now.) Then there's a rock followed by a big rock. For course fragment Y-Z you start out with a rock, big rock, and pit all very close together. Go slowly and shoot and jump over the pit. Then there's a tank left of a small pit, and you'll want to take slow jump as it is before a rock left of a big pit. Still go slow; jump over the popper, blast the big rock(hard to do on short notice when going fast,) and jump over the next popper. Yay! You have a brief victory lap before you cross the finish line. 5-4. BEYOND CHAMPION COURSE 1 All champion courses are pretty much the same, although it seems that the computer keeps track of record times on each on separately. But if you can continue a game while on T-Z and win with your first guy it is like starting on the beginning champion course with a huge bonus--I have eclipsed my high score starting at the beginner course that way. ** END OF FAQ PROPER ** ================================ 6. VERSIONS 1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs.com on 9/22/2002, should be complete, although there may be some time saving hints I was too cautious to find. Points are also not fully calculated but that'll come later. 7. CREDITS gamefaqs.com for hosting this the mame.net developers for creating the playback option which allowed me to make notes for all this