=============================================================================== __________ __________ _______ ___ \ _/ \ / \_ | / /___________ ___\ \ / / / |/ / ____/ __ \ / |\ \ / / ___ _______________ / / /___/ / /_ / | |\ \ / / / _ \/ __/ _ \__ __/ / / / / ___/ | ___ / /| | \ \ / / ___ / // / /_/ // / / / / // // / /___| \\ \/ _ | \ \/ / /__/ / ___/ __/ _ / / / /___//__//__/_______\_____/__/ |_| \ / / / / /_/ /\ \ / / ________ ______ __ _____ / / /_/ /___/_/ \_\_/ \_ | / / | / |/ _/ / \ / |/ / | |/ | / / /\ \ - GUIDE FOR: MEGAMAN X / / /| |/ / / / \ \ / / / / _ | | / / / \ \ / // // /_/ |_|_/|__// / \ \_ /___//__//__/ /_____\ /______\ Copyright CRESPO99 - August/2001 - Version 1.3 =============================================================================== ----------------------------------CONTENTS------------------------------------- [1] INTRODUCTION [1.01] What is MEGAMAN X? [1.02] Game Review [2] MEGAMAN X By CAPCOM 1993 [2.01] Story [2.02] Gameplay Set-up Skills Regular Items Special Items Upgrades Maverick Weapons [3] WALKTHROUGH [3.01] Highway Stage VILE [3.02] Stage Select Boss Order Boss and Stage Difficulty [3.03] Snow Mountain Stage CHILL PENGUIN [3.04] Power Plant Stage SPARK MANDRILL [3.05] Gallery Stage ARMORED ARMADILLO [3.06] Ocean Stage LAUNCH OCTOPUS [3.07] Tower Stage BOOMER KUWANGER [3.08] Forest Stage STING CHAMELEON [3.09] Sky Stage STORM EAGLE [3.10] Factory Stage FLAME MAMMOTH [3.11] HADOUKEN UPGRADE [3.12] SIGMA Stage 1 VILE Bospider [3.13] SIGMA Stage 2 Rangda Bangda [3.14] SIGMA Stage 3 D-Rex [3.15] SIGMA Stage 4 Velguader SIGMA Final SIGMA [4] ENDING [4.01] Story [4.02] Cast [5] FAQ INFORMATION [5.01] Updates [5.02] Disclaimer =============================================================================== [1] INTRODUCTION =============================================================================== -[1.01]-----------------------WHAT IS MEGAMAN X?------------------------------- MEGAMAN X (CAPCOM 1993) was the first 16 BIT game to feature the ever popular Blue Bomber - but there was more that just a few extra "console bits" to distance this from his previous outing (MEGAMAN 6 on the NES). Possibly scared that they were running out of respectable numbers, CAPCOM gave this game a much needed change of direction - set in the distant future, with an overly darker tone and all-new characters. This game would begin the "X" spin-off series - hence the next SNES Megaman game was called MEGAMAN 7, and did feature a continuation of the original series for the first time in 16bit. Although the two Megaman characters might appear similar, our hero in this game is simply known as X, and has learned a few new tricks too. The general format of the game remains the same - as before there are eight adversaries to defeat, each at the end of their own level, and which can be chosen in any order. When you defeat each boss you obtain its special weapon (sound familiar), and which helps you greatly when playing the rest of the game. Apart from a few other slight additions there was nothing that anyone who had played a previous MEGAMAN game wouldn't quickly pick up. Within two years this new series had spawned two sequels, with a 32bit fourth instalment predictably arriving in 1997. Each game introduced many new friends and adversaries for our hero, but it was the psychotic super-robot SIGMA who provided the final challenge in each. Two more recent 32bit instalments have bought the series up to its 6th episode(!), although Megaman X5 was the last to be released here in the UK. -[1.02]---------------------------GAME REVIEW---------------------------------- Hopefully a different and unbiased look at Megaman X - but being a fan of the series, character, and genre - can it be possible? MEGAMAN 7? As well as being one of the best known video game characters ever (and arguably CAPCOM'S main gaming icon), Megaman possibly holds the dubious title of staring in the most video games ever. You could therefore be forgiven by thinking that this is just another Megaman title - because you would be wrong (but obviously right to!). For starters this is not Megaman 7, instead it's the beginning of a completely different series of games (I have heard that the X could possibly stand for 10, and that this game ties in with the more recent Megaman 9?). As with most of his previous outings, this is a 1 player, 2d platform affair. If you think back to when this game first came out (hopefully you can remember that far back), the Super Nintendo had already been knocking around for a couple of years even in the UK, so far from this being just a launch title, CAPCOM where always going to pull out all the stops to make Megaman's 16 bit debut special. I for one was very excited at the prospect of a new Megaman game, although this change of direction with a new cast, and new animal like bosses was met with scepticism. PRESENTATION? The game intro simply profiles this supposed latest incarnation of Megaman, and with the actually game plot barely hinted upon, you will have to read the manual if you are even remotely interested in what's going on (you do have a manual right?). Luckily though, the storylines have never been the strong point of Megaman games, but the gameplay is usually spot on - which is the case here. Begin the actual game and the first thing you will notice are the enhanced graphics, with colourful sprites and interesting backgrounds - especially on the great looking intro stage (cars, lights, and the enemies that destroy the ground are a very nice touch). You really wouldn't expect anything less than enhanced graphics seeing as Megaman has spent most of his existence in 8 BIT, but they are actually quite good even by SNES standards. Despite the nifty visuals, there are a few moments of slowdown in the game, most noticeably on the fast moving mine cart stage (make that slow motion). Overall though, the graphics are definitely a strong point. The easy intro level quickly gets new players adjusted to the controls, and then onto the familiar stage select. The eight bosses all look equally daunting in profile form, and come in all shapes and sizes due to the SNES' extra processing power. Being able to choose any one of 8 stages has always been a good thing about Megaman games, with most being pretty varied (if unoriginal), consisting of the usual ice stage, mine cart stage, factory stage with conveyer belts etc. A single familiar face returns in the shape of those Hardhat wearing robots from the previous games, while robot bunnies, robot woodcutters, even robot caterpillars make up the rest of the enemies (everything is robotic remember). Perhaps some of the enemies seem uninspired, but the bosses all look great - the chameleon boss who blends in with the background is especially neat. GAMEPLAY? The new Megaman character runs, jumps, shoots, and even climbs with ease - the control is easily this games best feature, in fact the Megaman X character is probably the most responsive 2D character ever (better even than Mario). The new wall climbing feature can often prevents you from falling to your death, and once you get the hang everything you will realise what a huge dimension this adds to the game. The slide from the last few games has gone, and replaced with a dash button which overall proves more effective. The other trick from Megaman's original array of abilities is being able to charge up his weapon, and this also remains relatively unchanged. After playing for a while you will notice how none of the stages are particularly long or difficult, and it is mainly those damn bosses that will prevent you from completing most early on - with some proving particularly tough. What comes into play here is the thing that Megaman X is all about - enhancements. At the start your character seems nicely reminiscent of the original Megaman, but grab a few upgrades and the added defensive armour changes his looks completely. Other extras include extending your life bar up to 100%, and spare energy tanks to call upon when you need them. Needless to say, with the fully powered up Megaman you can defeat any of the Mavericks with ease, but these enhancements are not at all easy to find - so bear that in mind. Another nice new trick is the addition of altering stages, which although not to the extent of adding much to the already good replay value, is still a nice touch. Defeat the penguin boss for example, and the dangerous lava in another stage freezes, while defeating the eagle boss will cause his plane to crash into the power plant stage, removing the dangerous sparks from the floor. SOUNDS LIKE? The familiar catchy tunes return, but now make use of SNES' formidable audio chip - the result is one of the more memorable game soundtracks, and one of Megaman's finest moments. The original tinny NES tunes are replaced with some classic drum and bass, guitar and piano style tunes - most of which are perfectly in fitting with the surroundings. The overall music quality is very high, with great themes for the title screen and stage select, and the accompanying fanfares and sound effects are all perfect. The crazy mine cart stage has an equally hip tune, while the snow stage has a serene and slow tune, and the boss theme is perfect for the Maverick showdowns. STORM EAGLE and SPARK MANDRILL both have great catchy tune's, and the end theme and ZERO'S theme are quite moving with the storyline. The few poor tunes just seem a bit hard to make out the rhythm, with LAUNCH OCTOPUS' and STING CHAMELEON'S tunes both seemingly lacking, but that's about it. OVERALL? This is a great platform game, and most Megaman fans will rate this as one of the best, but others should enjoy it too. It might appear difficult at first, but is in fact is one of the easier Megaman games once you discover all of the power-ups, but the last boss just might be to difficult for some people - damn is he tough. The number of sequels has proved that this is still a very popular series, and hopefully CAPCOM will continue to do it justice. HIGHS LOWS COMPARISON Its Megaman! Uneven Difficulty Megaman X3 9/10 Great Graphics Unoriginal Levels Rockman & Forte 9/10 Amazing Control Some Poor Enemies >> MEGAMAN X << 9/10 Excellent Music A Bit Short Megaman 7 8/10 Altering Stages TO MANY SEQUELS!! Megaman X2 7/10 =============================================================================== [2] MEGAMAN X By CAPCOM 1993 =============================================================================== -[2.01]-----------------------------STORY-------------------------------------- MEGAMAN X SPECIFICATION _-----_ "HEAD" IS EQUIPPED WITH: /_|/-\|_\ Broad-range eye camera | _\___/_ | Ultra-sensitive Voice Recognition System || \_ _/ || Voice Generation System made by HAYATON Inc. \ \_o|o_/ / \| -_ |/ ___ _\___/_ ___ "CHEST" IS EQUIPPED WITH: / |/ \_/ \| \ Accumulative Energy Generator \ |__ __| / Micro-fusion Fuel Tank /\_// \___/ \\_/\ Central Joint-controlling System |_/ \__/ \__/ \_| / \ \ / / \ "ARMS" ARE EQUIPPED WITH: / | -\___/- | | X Buster (Mega Buster Mark17) | __ | | | \__/ Energy Amplifier \/ \/ /_\ /_\ / _| Variable Weapon system \()/ / \_/ \ \/_/ / / \ \ "LEGS" ARE EQUIPPED WITH: / \_/ \_/ \ Gyroscopic Stabilization System / \ / \ Emergency Acceleration System (Optional) | | | | | \ / | INTERIOR SKELETON: / | | \ Reactive armor skeleton which reduces | | | | damage by 93 percent. | | | | | | | | BODY SKIN: _|___ / \ ___|_ Lightweight "Titanium-X" alloy. / \___/ \___/ \ /___________\ /___________\ WARNING: "X" IS THE FIRST OF A NEW GENERATION OF ROBOTS WHICH CONTAIN AN INNOVATIVE NEW FEATURE - THE ABILITY TO THINK, FEEL AND MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS. HOWEVER THIS ABILITY COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS. IF "X" WERE TO BREAK THE FIRST RULE OF ROBOTICS, "A ROBOT MUST NEVER HARM A HUMAN BEING", THE RESULTS WOULD BE DISASTROUS AND I FEAR THAT NO FORCE ON EARTH COULD STOP HIM. APPROXIMATELY 30 YEARS WILL BE REQUIRED BEFORE WE CAN SAFELY CONFIRM HIS RELIABILITY. UNFORTUNATELY I WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THAT DAY, NOR DO I HAVE ANYONE TO CARRY ON MY WORK. THEREFORE, I HAVE DECIDED TO SEAL HIM IN THIS CAPSULE, WHICH WILL TEST HIS INTERNAL SYSTEMS UNTIL HIS RELIABILITY HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. PLEASE DO NO DISTURB THE CAPSULE UNTIL THAT TIME. "X" POSSESSES GREAT RISKS AS WELL AS GREAT POSSIBILITIES. I CAN HOPE FOR THE BEST. SEPTEMBER 18, 20XX T. LIGHT You have to read the game manual to get a better idea of the actual story, which centres around an archaeologist named Dr. CAIN who stumbles upon the remains of what was Dr. Thomas LIGHTS Laboratory (Dr. LIGHT Invented the original MEGAMAN). Inside he discovered a capsule containing a robot simply named X - and the warning shown above, but all the lengthy system checks seemed to have been completed on him. Realising Dr. LIGHTS genius, Dr. CAIN witnessed a robot that could think and make its own decisions in an almost human way. With Dr. LIGHT'S knowledge, Dr. CAIN hoped to create a new era of robotics. X helped Dr. CAIN create a replica, from now on know as a "REPLOID", and it seemed to function ok. Within months the REPLOIDS where running off the assembly line, and most people seemed to accept them and the jobs they performed. After a while, it was clear that all was not well - certain robots were going MAVERICK and harming people before they could be shut down. The people's reaction was mixed simply because of the dependency on REPLOIDS, and so instead a new group of REPLOIDS were assigned to stop these malfunctioning machines - known as the MAVERICK HUNTERS and led by the incredibly intelligent SIGMA! All went well for a while, with only X's constant wondering about his role in life seeming to disturb him. Eventually though, SIGMA also went MAVERICK, and took most of the HUNTERS with him. In thinking that REPLOIDS are more intelligent than humans, they are preventing their development - and so must be eradicated! With the terrified humans fleeing the city, X is very distressed by these events and decides to join the MAVERICK HUNTERS and their new leader ZERO... -[2.02]---------------------------GAMEPLAY------------------------------------- SET-UP: PASSWORDS: This game uses a password system to save your progress, so remember to write this down as you progress through the game - you get one whenever you leave a stage regardless of the circumstances. You can re-enter your password from the title screen later, which will restore your exact status to the stage select screen. In some cases, certain special events WILL NOT be saved, and this includes your progress through the four final SIGMA stages. OPTION MODE: From the title screen you can also choose the options menu, offering a nice sound test and the ability to reconfig your buttons (I find it easier to switch the dash button to R on the top of the pad) - but unfortunately there is no difficulty option. SKILLS: CHARGING: You standard weapon is the trusty X-Buster, for which you can rely on to defeat any enemy in the game, albeit with varying levels of ease. It will never run out of ammo, and can be charged up to 2 higher damaging levels. Simply hold the fire button down, and as soon as you see X begin to absorb energy then he is ready to fire the medium shot (1 second approx.). Hold the fire button down slightly longer (2 seconds approx.) and the energy absorbed will turn yellow, enabling you to fire the larger shot. Later in the game you will acquire the ability to charge up to an even higher level - hold down the button for even longer and the energy absorbed will turn pink (3 seconds approx.), which releases an awesome pink wave of energy. STATUS SCREEN: Pressing the START button during the game will immediately bring up the STATUS SCREEN - displaying the number of lives, various energy levels for any weapons or SUB TANKS you have obtained (see below), and also providing an EXIT function if you are returning to an already completed stage (taking you back to the stage select). From here the game is effectively paused, allowing you to choose your weapon or use a SUB TANK without hindrance. WEAPON SELECT: In this game you can cycle through the special weapons you have obtained by pressing buttons L or R (L or A if you change them like I do), although it is probably still easier just to press start and choose one from the status screen. Pressing R will cycle forward, while pressing L will cycle through in reverse order - you can also revert immediately back to the X-Buster by pressing both buttons simultaneously. WALL CLIMB: The wall climb is a new skill unique to Megaman X, and is an invaluable tactic for avoiding death on many occasions. When X is falling or jumping next to a wall, press the jump button and he will propel from it - this is made slightly easier if you hold the joypad towards the wall, which makes X slide slowly down it. This tactic allows easy navigation of vertical walls right from the start, and is something that you will need to do a lot of (this is something that the original MEGAMAN still cannot do). REGULAR ITEMS: ENERGY CAPSULES: When you start the game you will see your LIFE BAR in the top left, which provides 16 easily lost bars of energy - so you need to be careful and constantly on the look out for energy capsules. There are two types of these - small and large, both of which can be found scattered all over the levels, but most often appear randomly from destroyed enemies. WEAPON CAPSULES: Two similar items that you will come across are the blue weapon capsules, which recharge the energy of any special weapons you might have obtained. Weapons gained from each defeated MAVERICK will drain WEAPON ENERGY as you use them - which is denoted by a separate bar that appears to the right of your LIFE BAR when you select one. If the current weapon is at full energy, then the power will automatically be transferred to the weapon in your inventory which has the lowest energy. EXTRA LIFE: There is also a less common item that can be found scattered around a few of the levels, or possibly dropped by destroyed enemies - a Megaman head, providing you with a much needed EXTRA LIFE (a maximum of 9). SPECIAL ITEMS: The Special items can only be found hidden throughout the eight regular stages, and usually require a lot of skill to locate or obtain. HEART TANK: The HEART TANK extends your maximum LIFE BAR by two small bars, of which there are Eight in the game - one on each MAVERICK stage (collect them all to effectively double your LIFE BAR). SUB TANK: The SUB TANK (of which there are four) allows you to store surplus energy, meaning that any energy capsules collected when you are at full power will instead be stored and not wasted. When you run low of energy, simply select a SUB TANK from the status screen and press Y - it will then completely empty into your LIFE BAR (filling up to 14 bars). UPGRADES: Megaman X's final surprise is the new UPGRADE system. There are five capsules hidden throughout the eight regular stages, and each provides X with an enhancement that not only makes the character look cooler, but provides abilities that are invaluable for your survival later on. DASH UPGRADE (Found on CHILL PENGUIN'S stage): This is the easiest upgrade to obtain, but also the MOST important. Without this you will not be able to get any of the other upgrades, or many of the special items - not to mention the fact that most bosses are considerably more difficult without it! You cannot avoid picking up this upgrade during CHILL PENGUIN'S stage, but you should still aim to get it as early as possible. Simply press the assigned dash button (or double tap in the direction you're facing) and X will boost forward - best used in conjunction with the jump button. With good timing you can also use this to jump further off of the walls, and just by having this upgrade you can break certain bricks by jumping against them. ARMOUR UPGRADE (Found on STING CHAMELEON'S stage): This is the second most important upgrade, which simply halves all of the damage you receive, but you still need to be wary of Instant Death situations! HELMET UPGRADE (Found on STORM EAGLE'S stage): This is the least most useful upgrade, which simply allows X to destroy breakable bricks by bashing them with his head. It only has one positive use in the game, which is to obtain the..... X-BUSTER UPGRADE (Found on FLAME MAMMOTH'S STAGE): You will eventually obtain this upgrade during the course of the game even if you fail to gain it on FLAME MAMMOTH'S stage - but at a much later point in SIGMA'S fortress. It allows you to charge your normal X-Buster to a higher level, but more importantly is the added ability to charge the weapons you gain from each MAVERICK. HADOUKEN UPGRADE (Found on ARMORED ARMADILLO'S STAGE): The hardest Upgrade to find, and one which provides the most amazing power to wield. Press the Joypad DOWN, then FORWARD, then FIRE to perform RYU'S trademark move from STREET FIGHTER 2. It can only be performed when you have a full LIFE BAR, but defeats enemies and MAVERICKS (including SIGMA!) with just one hit!!! MAVERICK WEAPONS: SHOTGUN ICE (S.ICE): Fires a fast shot which rebounds and sprays into 5 smaller (but equally damaging) shots when it hits a wall. Charge it up to create an ice platform that will slide forward along any flat surface and can be stood on - it will only break against strong enemies or if it hits a wall. ELECTRIC SPARK (E.SPARK): Fires a medium speed shot that splits into two sparks that hug the walls on contact. Charged up will create a powerful electric wall that fires both back and forward. ROLLING SHIELD (R.SHIELD): Fires a slow moving forcefield that rolls forward, rebounding once from a wall and rolling indefinitely before crashing into a second wall or enemy. Charged up will create a permanent force field around X which can destroy all weak enemies, but will be absorbed by anything stronger. HOMING TORPEDO (HOMING.T): Fires a slow moving missile that will seek and follow an enemy - a maximum of 2 can be fired at once. Charged up will create 5 fish missiles that will also home in on enemies, but are much more damaging. BOOMERANG CUTTER (B.CUTTER): Fires a medium speed boomerang that circles a short range in an upwards arc (occasionally a downwards arc while jumping). You can fire a maximum of 3 at a time, and they will all return to you unless they leave the screen or hit an enemy (WEAPON ENERGY w ill return when reclaimed). Another benefit from this useful weapon is the way it grabs onto both regular and special items, and then brings them to you - which is the only way to obtain some of them. Charged up this will produce 4 large green boomerangs that will circle the screen in all directions before leaving (you will not get the energy back). CHAMELEON STING (C.STING): Sprays 3 fast green laser beams forward, but charged up will make you transparent (invincible) for just under 10 seconds - during which for can move through enemies and even over spikes. You can also fire the CHAMELEON STING while transparent. STORM TORNADO (STORM.T): This creates a long stream of air in front of you that hovers briefly before shooting forward - excellent against enemies that require multiple hits to destroy. Charged up will create a huge tornado around you, severely damaging anything close, above or below you. FIRE WAVE (FIRE.W) You can hold the button down for a short-range but constant stream of fire. This flame-thrower attack will charge up automatically if you have the X-BUSTER UPGRADE, so you might want to tap the button instead. Charge it up to shoot a flame into the ground - creating a wall of fire that travels forward along flat surfaces. This weapon is also excellent against stronger enemies but remember that it will not work while you are underwater, so be careful! =============================================================================== [3] WALKTHROUGH =============================================================================== This Walkthrough details the stages in the order which is probably best for new players, although each section has been written without any assumptions made on the number of upgrades collected, or previous levels completed. In other words, you can go with any order you wish and still find the guide (hopefully) useful. -[3.01]------------------------Highway Stage----------------------------------- The first MEGAMAN game to feature the now customary introduction level, which takes place on a collapsing highway, and populated with all sorts of robotic enemies as well as cosmetic vehicles fleeing the Reploid overrun city. You just need to head right, constantly charging the X-Buster helps because the largest shot can destroy many enemies at once. Small flying enemies attempt to destroy the floor, but pose little worry, but a few larger enemies tend to take many hits. There is a section where you have to fight a large robotic wasp-like flying enemy, and you will need to use the new wall climb after it. There is an identical situation right after, with another giant wasp like thing - just keep blasting it while avoiding its missiles. Shortly after a few collapsing platforms you will see enemy cars driving towards you - just keep shooting to slow them down. If you don't kill the driver and attempt to jump over them, then the car will turn around and chase you. |----------------------------| |---------| Boss |-----------| A large spaceship will drop a few more car |----------------------------| enemies onto the ground before VILE appears. | | VILE is the small purple guy in the giant | Name: VILE | Ride-Armour, and no matter how much you avoid | Difficulty: Very Easy | him or fight back, he will eventually pummel | Normal X Shots: NA | you into submission. Just before you are dead, | Large X Shots: NA | he will stop running into you and try to hit | Weakness: NA | you with a paralysing weapon (so you can't beat | | him, but you can still die if you are not |----------------------------| careful). After a mocking speech, a red robot called ZERO shows up and blasts the arm off of VILE'S Ride-Armour, after which VILE makes a hasty retreat. X is reassured by ZERO that he will soon get stronger, possibly even as strong as him one day! ZERO then departs for SIGMA'S fortress, while X goes on a quest to build his strength and abilities up. -[3.02]-------------------------Stage Select----------------------------------- A new twist this time, no longer do we have humanoid robots all ending in ***man, but all of X's adversaries now resemble various animal like forms (which is also hinted in their name). You can click on SPEC/STAGE/MAP on this screen before highlighting each MAVERICK to get an idea of each ones stage and abilities, although this is mostly cosmetic and helps little. While it is possible to defeat a number of the MAVERICKS from the start, it is only something that the best players should attempt, and even then - some of these are nigh on impossible at this point. Each of the eight MAVERICKS possess an obtainable weapon that seriously damages another Maverick, so in theory it is best to tackle them in this order regardless of who you start with, but this often means returning to previous levels to obtain important items - and so it is less efficient. Below is a guide to help you decide the order in which to tackle each stage. BOSS ORDER (Clockwise): By using the first order (starting with Chill Penguin) you will always have the correct SPECIAL WEAPON to defeat the next boss. By using the second order (again starting with CHILL PENGUIN) you will only have to return to a stage once - so it is by far the most efficient (but more taxing). (1) EASIEST: (2) OPTIMAL: CHILL PENGUIN CHILL PENGUIN / \ / \ FLAME MAMMOTH SPARK MANDRILL STING CHAMELEON STORM EAGLE / \ / \ STORM EAGLE ARMORED ARMADILLO LAUNCH OCTOPUS FLAME MAMMOTH \ / \ / STING CHAMELEON LAUNCH OCTOPUS ARMORED ARMADILLO BOOMER KUWANGER \ / \ / BOOMER KUWANGER SPARK MANDRILL When using the OPTIMAL order, note that it is actually possible to place either LAUNCH OCTOPUS' or ARMORED ARMADILLO'S stage at any point in the ring - this is simply because neither stage requires any items or upgrades to obtain every item on the level. The only exception to this rule is that STING CHAMELEON *MUST* be chosen *AFTER* LAUNCH OCTOPUS so that the level will flood - allowing you to reach a vital SPECIAL ITEM. All of the other other levels must be done in the order stated, leaving you needing only to revisit CHILL PENGUIN'S stage to collect the HEART TANK. BOSS AND STAGE DIFFICULTY (When chosen first): The BOSS table assumes you will collect all possible power-ups from the level before fighting the boss (e.g. even if you select ARMORED ARMADILLO first, you can still obtain both the HEART TANK and the SUB TANK - whereas if you choose STING CHAMELEON first you will be unable to pick up any of the levels special items). The STAGE difficulty table in mainly ranked on aspects such as the overall size and the number of instant death situations - although to be honest, none of the level can really be classed as difficult. BOSS STAGE VERY HARD HARD |- LAUNCH OCTOPUS |- LAUNCH OCTOPUS |- SPARK MANDRILL |- SPARK MANDRILL |- STING CHAMELEON |- ARMORED ARMADILLO |- BOOMER KUWANGER |- STORM EAGLE |- ARMORED ARMADILLO |- FLAME MAMMOTH |- STORM EAGLE |- BOOMER KUWANGER |- FLAME MAMMOTH |- CHILL PENGUIN |- CHILL PENGUIN |- STING CHAMELEON EASY EASY -[3.03]---------------Snow Mountain Stage: CHILL PENGUIN----------------------- This stage is the obvious first choice because not only is it an easy level, but you will obtain the DASH UPGRADE at no real effort. Just head right and then up (remember to use the wall climb jump), and you will eventually find the upgrade capsule blocking your path. The accelerator system (DASH UPGRADE) is a must at this early stage, giving you a longer jump when used in combination, and which can also be used when jumping from the wall (very helpful against the bosses). Shortly after, you will find a Ride-Armour suit similar to the one used by VILE on the Highway Stage. While using this armour you can smash the ice covered houses, and if you jump out of it while it is also jumping, you can get some extra height. Right after the Ride-Armour is a situation like this, you can either go through the cave, or jump up and then out of the armour and go across the top. It is slightly easier to go over, although you might want to muck around in the Ride-Armour for a while (remember to jump out of the armour if you fall into a hole inside the cave - you can easily wall climb out). Over the top of the cave are more of those small iced buildings, but you are unable to destroy these unless you have the FIRE WAVE from FLAME MAMMOTH. Inside the first small building is the HEART TANK for this level (come back here later). Continue and you will soon find snowballs being thrown at you, but these are pretty easy to avoid, and when you reach the boss-door keep destroying the robots that throw them to get energy capsules (full energy is a must for any boss battle). Then enter the door to face CHILL PENGUIN... |----------------------------| |---------| Boss |-----------| CHILL PENGUIN is small compared to most of the |----------------------------| others, giving a large area to avoid him. He | | often jumps across the screen in an attempt | Name: CHILL PENGUIN | to hit you (contact is very damaging), but | Height: 5.34ft | you should easily be able to avoid it. When | Weight: 237lb | he lands he sometimes breathes icy breath, | Difficulty: Easy | creating two ice statures that remain on the | Normal X Shots: 32 | level until destroyed (and also damage on | Large X Shots: 10 | contact), his breath can also freezes you | Weakness: FIRE WAVE | temporarily if you are close enough, giving | (11 Hits) | him a damaging free hit. Sometimes while |----------------------------| jumping he might grab the hook in the middle on the ceiling instead, summoning an icy wind that blows you either left or right, also sending any statues smashing into the wall. He can also shoot slow or fast ice rocks at you, although these stop if they hit an ice statue (so you can hide behind them). His final attack is the Slide, where he shoots forward on his stomach - also very damaging. As long as you hit him with Charged shots, and remain on the walls (just watch for him jumping when he is near to the wall you are climbing), you can defeat him quite easily. Just hit him constantly, the easiest time being when he jumps, lands or finishes a slide attack. Using the FIRE WAVE doesn't really make him much easier, although you can now destroy the ice statues almost immediately. He will still jump around and slide on his stomach, so you still need to be careful while on the ground. The charged up FIRE WAVE is completely useless because it is so hard to hit him with and will run out after about 4 or 5 hits. Because the Fire Wave requires you to hold down the fire button, it will charge up automatically anyway - which is actually more of a hindrance during the battle. -[3.04]---------------Power Plant Stage: SPARK MANDRILL------------------------ This stage is one of the more difficult ones, so you need to watch out for the constant sparks shooting across parts of the floor. These sparks will disappear after you defeat STORM EAGLE (looks like the remains of his plane at the start!), but this will cause some areas to plunge into darkness - making a few sections actually more difficult. Shortly after the start you will see two ladders, the one going down leads to a SUB TANK, but you cannot get it unless you have defeated BOOMER KUWANGER so just go up (use his BOOMERANG CUTTER to snatch the SUB TANK later). It will soon get dark, and fast flying enemies will try to knock you off platforms to your death - so remember to wall climb back up if you can't avoid them (just stop and wait if this part goes completely dark). The strange mid level boss is quite tough early on in the game, with the best advice simply to avoid the sticky slime it leaves on the floor (move the d-pad left and right if you do get stuck). You can use the wall climb to hit it while it is high up, which is useful for when it shoots sparks downwards (defeat STORM EAGLE and it can no longer shoot these sparks). It does moves quite slowly, and occasionally pauses, which is when you should get close and fire rapidly to defeat it in no time. After this you can then continue right - avoiding the wall turrets is easy, but the giant turtle enemies take many hits, so you will need to avoid the missiles they shoot back. When you come to a ladder going down, you should see the HEART TANK for this level above you - this can be obtained by dash- jumping from the right wall and then trying to just touch the ledge (needs good judgement as well as the DASH UPGRADE), you can also use the BOOMERANG CUTTER if you have it. Keep going and it will get dark like before, so watch out for more of those those fast birds (try and anticipate when they fly across the screen to shoot them) before reaching the door. |----------------------------| |---------| Boss |-----------| SPARK MANDRILL is huuuge, but not impossible to |----------------------------| beat even without the DASH UPGRADE. He only | | has a few different attacks, his most damaging | Name: SPARK MANDRILL | being the dash punch - which takes off lots of | Height: 10.0ft | energy, and tends to knock you off the wall | Weight: 646lb | that he bashes (so you might land on him if you | Difficulty: Hard | climbed the wall to avoid it). The dash punch | Normal X Shots: 32 | is a good move to counter however, so if you | Large X Shots: 11 | anticipate it a nd hit him with a charged shot | Weakness: SHOTGUN ICE | you will knock him back. Watch out if he | (11 Hits) | repeats the punch however, you wont have enough | Charged SHOTGUN ICE | time to charge up another shot, so its a good | (8 Hits) | idea to prepare to jump against the wall and |----------------------------| vault him afterwards. He also tries to jumps on you, but sometimes grabs the ceiling instead - slowly swinging across (also a good time to hit him with a charged shot). His special attack is when he punches the floor, sending two pink sparks (the ELECTRIC SPARK) each way hugging the arena wall (jump them and you can hit him with a charged shot). He is easy to hit, and charged shots damage him severely - so always have one ready and try to make them count. Hit him from the start because he usually does the dash punch, and prepare for his follow up because you can only take a few hits early on. When he hangs on the ceiling you can hit him at least twice, and he is particularly vulnerable during the ELECTRIC SPARK. As long as you avoid his contact and anticipate the Dash punch, you should be able to beat him first with practice. His weakness is the SHOTGUN ICE, with which you can just keep on hitting him over and over to freeze him, making him a doddle (shoot again just as he breaks free). -[3.05]----------------Gallery Stage: ARMORED ARMADILLO------------------------ The customary mine cart level is another tough stage - so jump on the cart at the beginning and shoot like crazy (enemies hit by the cart are killed instantly). If you jump off after the first downward slope you should see a bat that is considerably larger than the normal ones - blast this for an almost certain EXTRA LIFE, and then keep walking forward and back to refresh the enemies for more lives from it! If you stayed on the cart you will hit the wall at the end, so remember to jump off - the momentum throws you off a bit so be careful. When you reach the wall going down, slide down slowly until the rock-crusher goes past underneath, just behind it is a SUB TANK. This level is good for filling your SUB TANKS, so boss fights from now on will be slightly fairer. Just follow the rock-crusher until it destroys itself, and carry on until you reach the next mine cart. When you jump off you have another vertical wall to slide down, but this time you want to get in front of the rock-crusher - so stay to the right as you descend (touching its front is instant death). Go on ahead until you see the HEART TANK above (you cannot reach this if the rock-crusher went in front), and then wait for the rock-crusher to go past below and destroy itself again. It is possible to destroy the rock-crusher using the X-Buster, and before it reaches the HEART TANK - but unless you are quick on the buttons you will need either the STORM TORNADO or the FIRE WAVE. Right after this is the final mine cart ride, so shoot like crazy and remember to jump off at the end - just before the door to ARMORED ARMADILLO. |----------------------------| |---------| Boss |-----------| This small Boss is annoying because he will |----------------------------| almost always block your shots, and even when | | you hit him you don't do much damage (charged | Name: ARMORED ARMADILLO | hits do no extra damage). His main attack is | Height: 6.36ft | to roll up into a ball and bounce around the | Weight: 510lb | screen at 45 degree angles (you need to judge | Difficulty: Intermediate | where he will hit regardless of where you are | Normal X Shots: 32 | on the screen) - this is very damaging and you | Large X Shots: 32 | will probably need that SUB TANK from earlier | Weakness: ELECTRIC SPARK | after a few hits. You can usually get a hit in | (11 Hits) | just as he comes out of the roll, and just as | Charged ELECTRIC SPARK | he enters it if you are quick. When he stands | (5 Hits) | still he will begin shooting small shots at |----------------------------| you, this is easiest time hit him even though he will still block some of your shots. If he blocks a charged shot he will absorb it and release a blast of energy in many directions (very damaging). I prefer to remain on the left side for the entire battle, where you should eventually notice a pattern in his roll attack (knowing when to be either up the left wall, or on the ground to avoid it). When he jumps out of his roll attack you want to shoot him constantly - hitting him a few times while avoiding the small laser beams he fires back. Because of the high number of hits he takes to kill, this battle will last quite a while - so your only real worry is the occasional lack of judgement... If you have the ENERGY SPARK you just need to hit him properly once - he can block this as before, but as soon as you DO hit him he will lose his armour, allowing you to keep hitting him no matter what he does. Without his armour he cannot even block X-Buster shots, but try and hit him as often as possible with the ENERGY SPARK because he still has a lot of vitality. -[3.06]------------------Ocean Stage: LAUNCH OCTOPUS--------------------------- This level takes place mostly underwater, allowing you to jump higher but very slowly (hold the jump button to jump really high). Keep going across the seabed until you stop to fight a large fish, this will shoot eels at you that are annoying to avoid, he also tries to draw you in - not too difficult. You will then come across many fish that will try to suck you inside them, these do not appear to damage you but actually drain you energy quite rapidly after a few seconds if you do nothing - so shoot to escape from their stomach. The second pause is another of those giant fish's, except this time parts of the ground have spikes, and so you need to be extra careful when he draws you towards him (jumping high helps you land back on the small floor section). Soon after you will find whirlpool machines that you can use to climb to the water surface, the second of which allows you to jump onto a Whale like boat which can be sunk after a pummelling (shoot the orb on the top). When the Whale sinks it destroys the spiked ground on the seabed, revealing a large fighting area and a serpent like mini-boss. You can stand on is back as it weaves around the area, making it easier to hit its head and tail weakpoints. If you have the STORM TORNADO you can defeat it in just a few hits, but always be wary of the spike patches below. When you destroy it, a small cave appears to the right which contains the HEART TANK. Head back left and up to the main path and continue to another pause, here you fight another of those serpents, although the shallower water means you can't stay on its back for as long. Destroy it and walk up to the boss door (there are no enemies to obtain energy capsules from so you might not be in a good position to do him first time). |----------------------------| |---------| Boss |-----------| This underwater boss is a really tough one, but |----------------------------| still possible to defeat very early on. He will | | mainly stand or hop forward while firing three | Name: LAUNCH OCTOPUS | missiles at you, so keep your distance and | Height: 7.80ft | continuously fire normal shots - by standing | Weight: 348lb | your ground you can destroy these missiles and | Difficulty: Very Hard | hit him in-between (so don't bother to charge). | Normal X Shots: 32 | He less frequently fires 4 fish like homing | Large X Shots: 11 | missiles (you can prepare because he waves his | Weakness: ROLLING SHIELD | arms before firing them), which are harder to | (11 Hits) | avoid and more damaging. His last attack is to | BOOMERANG CUTTER | jump up and create a whirlpool that tries to | (3 Hits to cut off arms) | draw you inside - so watch out for this if you |----------------------------| do not have the DASH UPGRADE because you will not be able to escape from it. If you do have the DASH UPGRADE then you can easily avoid this and even escape if you do get caught in it - allowing you more time to charge up your X-Buster and hit him when he stops spinning. If you do get caught, he will move down and suck your energy (healing himself too), so wiggle the d-pad to escape with minimum damage. The best tactic is just stay away from him and shoot - only hitting him with charged shots when he is in the air. This battle is only difficult because the fish missiles are so hard to avoid, and you will almost certainly need a lucky match if you don't have the DASH UPGRADE or a SUB TANK. LAUNCH OCTOPUS' weakness is the ROLLING SHIELD, which damages him badly, but is hard to actually hit him with because many shots will be cancelled by his missiles. From the start its best to just get close to him and unload the ROLLING SHIELD continuously, he should only have about a third of his energy left when it runs out, then revert to the X-Buster and you should beat him
 comfortably (I hope).

 Strangely this  boss has  a second weakness  which is overall  more effective
 than his true weakness.  If you have the  BOOMERANG CUTTER,  you just need to
 hit him with it three  times (normal or charged) to remove his arms.  Without
 his arms he  loses the ability  to fire the homing  fish missiles  or use his
 whirlpool attack.  All he is  left with is  those easily  countered  rockets,
 making him one of the easiest battles!


-[3.07]------------------Tower Stage: BOOMER KUWANGER--------------------------

 This level takes place inside a tower,  and the direction  you travel most is
 up - so be prepared to climb.  Various ladders help you most of the time, but
 make use  of the  wall climb  to quickly  reach the  top of  the short  first
 section.  You soon have to go right past laser detectors turning on and off -
 break any of theses  beams and the guns will shoot you.  Its difficult not to
 get hit a few times and so the best tactic here is to just sprint dash (using
 the DASH UPGRADE) all the way through regardless -  proving too quick for the
 guns to hit you before you reach the end.  Continue up and you will soon come
 to a fast moving lift taking you even higher,  here you have to avoid instant
 death spikes  as well as  flying enemies -  the walls  on the side  also kill
 instantly.  You then  move  outside,  here you  need to  use the  wall  climb
 ability,  made slightly harder by the presence of  gun turrets popping out of
 the wall.
 
 At the top you can clearly  see the HEART TANK for this level,  which you can
 easily grab later on with the weapon from this levels boss (use the BOOMERANG
 CUTTER).  If you already have  both the SHOTGUN ICE  and the X-BUSTER UPGRADE
 however, it is possible to ride the charged  up ice platform off the edge and
 then jump  up onto  the ledge (needs good  timing).  Continue up  afterwards,
 destroying the enemies  on the platforms so you can ride  them up to entrance
 to the boss room.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| Apparently BOOMER KUWANGER is a Cockroach,  but
|----------------------------| during the  Japanese translation  it would seem
|                            | CAPCOM  decided  BOOMER COCKROACH just  doesn't
| Name:      BOOMER KUWANGER | sound right, but either way this boss is not to
| Height:             7.93ft | difficult.  His most  common  technique  is the
| Weight:              206lb | teleport,  and he  does  seem  to make  a nasty
| Difficulty:   Intermediate | habit of appearing  in front of  you regardless
| Normal X Shots:         32 | of which way you move (often making contact for
| Large X Shots:          11 | big damage).  He can also charge  into you, and
| Weakness:   HOMING TORPEDO | likes following up both  these attacks with the
|                  (11 hits) | damaging  "Dead Lift" -  where he  lifts you up
|     Charged HOMING TORPEDO | with his horns and throws you into the ceiling.
|                   (8 Hits) | If you face him Without the DASH UPGRADE,  then
|----------------------------| these  two  attacks  are  quite  hard to  avoid
                               unless you  stay high up  the walls.  His final
 move is the  BOOMERANG CUTTER,  where he  removes  his horns  and throws them
 towards you, but this often misses and is  not particularly damaging anyway -
 usually done if you are up a wall when he stops teleporting.

 My best tactic is to just keep wall climbing on either side, and then jumping
 over him when  he appears  right below -  usually  getting in a  charged shot
 before  climbing  up the  other  wall.  By doing  this he  almost  constantly
 teleports,  pausing only to  throw the BOOMERANG CUTTER  which as also a good
 time to  hit him -  he cannot  teleport  while the  boomerang  is  travelling
 through the air, so make use of this vulnerability.

 If you have the HOMING TORPEDOES  then BOOMER KUWANGER  is very easy indeed -
 just shoot them  one at a time and they  will always hit him.  Because he can
 still teleport next to you, it is best not to just stand still and fire away,
 instead the best place to be is either of the top corners - here you can just
 shoot continuously.


-[3.08]------------------Forest Stage: STING CHAMELEON-------------------------

 This Stage  is a poor first  choice because none  of the cool  bonuses can be
 obtained  without the  DASH UPGRADE.  At  the start  are those  annoying wood
 cutting robots, so have the charged shot ready to destroy them and the tree's
 they hide  behind. Not far  from the  start is  a vertical  cliff face at the
 entrance to a cave (where rock-robots fall inside) - dash jump and climb this
 cliff face instead of going inside  the cave. At the top you will be caved-in
 to face a giant green robot with  pincer claws - this is Dr. Light's test for
 the second most-important upgrade, the ARMOUR UPGRADE.

 This mini boss is  not too hard, and his moves  are not particularly damaging
 either,  but he  does take  a lot  of hits.  He will  jump to  where you  are
 standing most of the time, so always  move when he jumps. His other attack is
 to extend his claw about 2 thirds a  screen in length, sometimes grabbing and
 smashing you into the wall - but this  is also pretty weak. Just keep dashing
 from wall to wall,  and concentrate  on shooting his head  with charged shots
 (he takes 64  regular hits  and 32 of the  larger shot!!!!).  Afterwards take
 the ARMOUR UPGRADE, which will help  you considerably from now on (all damage
 is halved). Also, by destroying this secret boss, there will be no more rocks
 falling in the cave below.

 Go back and slide down the cliff face,  and immediately  below is a small gap
 in the ground -  slide down here to find a  secret area  leading to the HEART
 TANK.  If you  have defeated  LAUNCH OCTOPUS,  this area will  be filled with
 water, and this is vital for reaching the HEART TANK. Remember that you first
 need the DASH UPGRADE,  and then its a leap  of faith as far to  the right as
 you can.  When you reach the small ledge,  grab the HEART TANK and attempt to
 jump all the way back -  easier if you  slide down the ledge  before jumping.
 Now climb back up  and continue through the level.  There is an EXTRA LIFE in
 plain view shortly  before a suit of Ride-Armour,  grab this and  head right,
 jumping to avoid  the swamp that  slows you down.  Shortly ahead  is the door
 to the boss.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| The Chameleon  boss is a very  difficult foe to
|----------------------------| beat early on, but if  you had the DASH UPGRADE
|                            | and then  acquired the ARMOUR UPGRADE  from his
| Name:      STING CHAMELEON | stage, he  becomes quite  easy. The top  of the
| Height:             5.80ft | arena is covered in  spikes that are incredibly
| Weight:              169lb | damaging (even with  the ARMOUR UPGRADE), so be
| Difficulty:           Hard | careful when  climbing up  the walls.  His main
| Normal X Shots:         20 | manoeuvre  is moving while  invisible  (being a
| Large X Shots:          16 | Chameleon  he blends  in with  the background),
| Weakness: BOOMERANG CUTTER | crawling  across  the  arena  and  re-appearing
|                  (11 hits) | either  high or low.  You can usually  make out
|   Charged BOOMERANG CUTTER | where he is crawling,  giving a split second to
|                   (8 Hits) | react before  he reappears, and  which is vital
|----------------------------| for avoiding  the devastating tongue  attack he
                               usually does  when he appears  low (but this is
 still hard  to avoid without the DASH  UPGRADE).  If he appears  high, he can
 use his special  weapon - the  CHAMELEON STING,  where he sprays  three green
 spikes multiple  times (not too damaging).  Wherever he appears,  he can also
 drop to the  ground before  jumping up to the  ceiling and swinging  from his
 tongue - this shakes spikes from the  ceiling that are hard to avoid but also
 not very damaging.

 Because he disappears quite quickly  you need to move fast if you want to hit
 him after  avoiding his  attacks.  He is vulnerable  during all  his attacks,
 particularly  when he  sprays the  CHAMELEON STING.  When he  swings from the
 ceiling you don't need to jump off  the walls to hit him, he is low enough to
 hit with charged jump shots. If you see him about to reappear low, its really
 just best to concentrate on avoiding his tongue attack.

 If you have the BOOMERANG CUTTER then he is very easy even without any of the
 upgrades - and because the Boomerang goes in a high loop you can hit him even
 when he is high up.  Every time you hit him he will  fall down and jump up to
 the opposite side  (almost always starting the tongue swing)  - where you can
 knock him down again  and repeat. Just watch out  for him falling onto you if
 you knock him down from right above you.


-[3.09]--------------------Sky Stage: STORM EAGLE------------------------------

 A different stage compared  to those so far, with good  jumping and judgement
 required from the start.  Head up from the beginning,  carefully jumping from
 the small platforms  while avoiding those annoying  enemies that pick you up.
 You can destroy  parts of the  right wall where  you can see  platforms (only
 hiding large  energy capsules),  and when you  reach the very  top you should
 dash jump as far  to the left as you  can (need the DASH UPGRADE),  to obtain
 the HEART TANK for this level.  Drop down after and make your way all the way
 back to the top to carry on.

 Back at the top you will soon come to more platforms to navigate (destroy the
 turrets on each platform),  but from here you can instead head up and left to
 reach the  control tower.  Just shoot the glass  to easily obtain a SUB TANK,
 and then drop  back down and  head right.  Without the  DASH UPGRADE you will
 have to wait for the next platform to be lower than the one you are on before
 jumping to it,  so you might  have to judge where  it is if you  can't see it
 below you. At the end of this section  is another wall to destroy, and inside
 is an EXTRA LIFE.

 Right after this is a tall mast to climb, taking you even higher, so climb it
 but slide down the other side instead of jumping to the higher Platform - and
 from here you can dash jump (need  the DASH UPGRADE) to a right platform with
 another of those destroyable walls.  Inside here is the HELMET UPGRADE, which
 allows you to  destroy certain  bricks in a  "Super Mario Bros" style.  Apart
 from looking  pretty cool  it does  little else.  Return back  up to the main
 path and  continue right (there is  another easy EXTRA LIFE  in plain sight).
 Just before the boss  is a section where you have to  jump onto a plane using
 platforms that fall when you land on  them - needless to say be quick to jump
 off.  Walk off the right edge of the plane  instead of going through the door
 to find a large weapon and energy capsule - then jump on the platform to face
 STORM EAGLE.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| STORM EAGLE  flaps his wings,  blowing you back
|----------------------------| from the start  (ultimately trying  to push you
|                            | off the edge) - so without the DASH UPGRADE you
| Name:          STORM EAGLE | need to run desperately against it to make back
| Height:             8.20ft | some  ground.  He might  fly upwards  and hover
| Weight:              275lb | before splitting out an  egg that 4 robot birds
| Difficulty:   Intermediate | hatch from  and chase you - but time  a charged
| Normal X Shots:         32 | blast right  and you can destroy all  four with
| Large X Shots:          16 | just  one hit.  While  hovering he  will either
| Weakness:  CHAMELEON STING | land again, or disappear upwards - and begin to
|                  (11 hits) | dive-bomb you. This is easily his most damaging
|----------------------------| attack, and unless you  take action to evade it
                               he will always hit you - so move constantly. He
 will later fly  down from the top of the  screen and hover  once more, before
 possibly landing or disappearing upwards  again and dive-bombing. If he lands
 he will  try to  blow you  off the edge  again,  sometimes using his  special
 weapon  instead - the  STORM TORNADO,  which pushes  you back with  much more
 force than his wings but can be jumped  to gain more ground, and also doesn't
 damage.

 You can easily hit  him when he hovers  or lands with a  charged shot, and if
 you are quick also  when he dive-bombs (although  just evading this attack is
 more important). If you have the DASH UPGRADE  you can nail him constantly by
 shooting and dashing as he blows you back. As long as you just concentrate on
 avoiding him you can  beat this boss quite early in the game,  just watch for
 him blowing you off the edge if you do not have the DASH UPGRADE.

 Using the CHAMELEON STING only makes it easier to hit him, but charging it up
 to turn  yourself  invincible  will  prevent  him from  hitting you  with the
 dive-bomb or the STORM TORNADO - very helpful.


-[3.10]------------------Factory Stage: FLAME MAMMOTH--------------------------

 This shortish stage  is a melting factory, so  watch out for the robotic junk
 on the conveyer  belts that can knock  you into the very  damaging lava (some
 shoot laser beams, so be careful).  By defeating CHILL PENGUIN you can freeze
 all the  lava at  the bottom,  allowing  you to  avoid the conveyer  belts by
 running underneath.

 After this  you will fall  down to a lower  section, where you  should notice
 smashable bricks above you, this is just before the large area. Remember that
 you need the HELMET UPGRADE  and DASH UPGRADE beforehand  - to reach this you
 need to dash jump from the higher right platform as far as you can, then just
 press the jump button  rapidly and you should find  yourself climbing up to a
 small hidden chamber (need good jump timing). If you fall down after smashing
 some bricks then you cannot get the upgrade without exiting the level. Inside
 the capsule is the  X-BUSTER UPGRADE, which allows  you to charge your normal
 X-Buster to a higher level (the energy  will turn pink when it is ready), but
 more importantly is the new ability  to charge the weapons you gain from each
 MAVERICK.

 Continue Right until you come to more  platforms over lava, except these fire
 flames upwards, destroying  parts of the floor (not  if it is frozen though).
 This area is  quite high and  contains both  the HEART TANK  and SUB TANK for
 this level. To the far bottom right is the HEART TANK, which you can get even
 without having frozen the lava, but you will take serious damage so make sure
 you can take a few hits.  After this head up to the top left to find an EXTRA
 LIFE,  and from here  you can  dash jump  left (need DASH UPGRADE)  to find a
 small room behind  smashable blocks. Get the SUB TANK inside and head back to
 the right,  where you will soon come to another  conveyer section except this
 one has  junk crushers  (not an  instant kill).  Carry on  and you  will soon
 arrive at the boss door.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| You fight this boss in an unusually long arena,
|----------------------------| with a conveyer belt  floor which FLAME MAMMOTH
|                            | can change the direction  of by calling out. He
| Name:        FLAME MAMMOTH | is pretty  agile for a  Mammoth, with  his main
| Height:             10.5ft | attack simply  trying to squash  you by jumping
| Weight:              719lb | forward over a screens  length - and even if he
| Difficulty:   Intermediate | misses  you  will  be  stunned  by  the  ground
| Normal X Shots:         32 | shaking  (but   not  damaged).   He  will  stop
| Large X Shots:          16 | in-between  jumps to  either spit  tar from his
| Weakness:    STORM TORNADO | trunk (which slows you  slightly if walked in),
|                  (11 Hits) | or shooting  far reaching  flames from  his arm
|      Charged STORM TORNADO | gun. If he hits a blob  of tar with his flame -
|                   (8 Hits) | it will ignite  and burn away  shortly, causing
|----------------------------| you damage if you touch it.

 Because the arena  is so long it is very easy  to just keep your distance and
 shoot him.  It is a good idea to be on a wall if you can,  which will prevent
 you from being stunned when he shakes the ground, although you can also avoid
 this by jumping  just before he lands.  When he gets close  it is possible to
 stand right next to  him and shoot  continuously - as long  as he just stands
 and shoots, his flames will simply fly over your head,  but watch out for the
 conveyer belt trapping you between him and the wall.  It is generally best to
 be on the side  which is taking him  backwards, so either  run underneath him
 when he jumps,  or vault him when he  comes close using the wall.  You should
 then be  able to hit  him a few times before  moving to the far side.  If you
 have the DASH UPGRADE then you will have a much easier time avoiding him, and
 should beat him in no time.

 If you have the  STORM TORNADO then  you can  just stand in  front of him and
 fire away -  you should hit him every  time (just watch  out for the conveyer
 drawing you towards him). He will probably fire back and still try to jump on
 you, so if  you are low on  energy or just  don't want to get hit,  just keep
 your distance when shooting as before.

 Similarly  to the tactic  against LAUNCH OCTOPUS , you can use  the BOOMERANG
 CUTTER to remove  his trunk (just hit  him 3 times).  Without his trunk he is
 unable to drop blobs  of tar, and is  also unable to change the  direction of
 the conveyer  belt - but  overall this  doesn't effect the  difficulty of the
 battle.


-[3.11]-----------------------HADOUKEN UPGRADE---------------------------------

 After defeating  all eight  MAVERICKS you  will join  ZERO at the entrance to
 SIGMA'S fortress, and after a short conversation you will return to the stage
 select.  You can select SIGMA'S stage  by choosing the bottom right box,  but
 first you  should  return  to some of  the MAVERICK'S  stages to pick  up any
 missed items  (although you can  do this in-between  SIGMA stages if you want
 - but I don't recommend it).

 The final upgrade  can now be found  at the end of ARMORED  ARMADILLO'S stage
 after you have  obtained all eight HEART TANKS,  all four SUB TANKS,  and the
 other four upgrades. Just make your way to the final mine cart ride, and when
 you jump  off at the  end just before  the boss's door,  jump up and  get the
 energy  capsule before  jumping into  the ravine  to your death.  Repeat this
 strange requirement four more times, making sure you have Full Energy and all
 full SUB TANKS  on the fifth time - and  you should see the  final capsule on
 the cliff. You need a  lot of lives for this, so make  sure you get a maximum
 of nine from the "Fat Bat" at the start  of this level (see ARMORED ARMADILLO
 stage guide above).

 With the HADOUKEN UPGRADE in your possession it's time to take on SIGMA!


-[3.12]-------------------------SIGMA STAGE 1----------------------------------

 SIGMA'S fortress  is divided into 4  incredibly difficult  stage's which must
 all be completed in one sitting - so passwords from now on will only remember
 special items  collected from  the regular  stages (apart  from the  HADOUKEN
 UPGRADE).

 You will have another conversation with Zero at the start of the first stage,
 and he will then run  off ahead and create a diversion  allowing you to sneak
 in! Shortly after  the start you will come to  a very difficult section where
 you must make your way up the screen using moving platforms over a bottomless
 pit, and made all the more difficult by the quick flying enemies. If you have
 the X-BUSTER UPGRADE  then you can charge  up the ROLLING SHIELD  to create a
 force field, preventing  the enemies from knocking  you to your death. If you
 missed that upgrade then you will have  to be really careful jumping, and try
 and shoot each enemy as you jump because they keep coming back!

 Inside the base you  will soon come face to face with  VILE, who will then be
 chased through  a boss door by ZERO.  As you follow you will  hear the battle
 in the room ahead, and soon discover  ZERO captured by VILE who is now riding
 his Ride-Armour.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| You will have to fight  against his Ride-Armour
|----------------------------| first of all,  and just  as with  your previous
|                            | meeting you  will not  be able to harm  him (so
| Name:                 VILE | don't waste any SUB TANKS on him). After he has
| Difficulty:           Easy | given you a beating,  he will paralyse you like
| Normal X Shots:         32 | before -  except this time ZERO  will sacrifice
| Large X Shots:           8 | himself,  and the last of his  power to destroy
| Weakness:   ROLLING SHIELD | VILE'S Ride-Armour.  You will kindly be given a
|                   (8 Hits) | full LIFE BAR to fight him now, and this should
|        Charged SHOTGUN ICE | be enough  to beat him  with unless  you have a
|                   (4 Hits) | short LIFE BAR  or missed some of  the upgrades
|----------------------------| (but don't be  afraid to use a  SUB TANK if you
                               need one).

 He  will  run or  fly  from  left to  right,  pausing  only to  shoot  yellow
 paralysing plasma balls (which don't damage,  but give him a free hit).  When
 he flies overhead he drops two bombs that send sparks across the floor -  but
 contact  with  either  is  pretty  weak.  He is  sometimes  unpredictable  in
 movement, and very damaging to make contact with - so avoid him at all costs.

 Vault the  paralysing  Plasma balls  he shoots,  and either jump  over or run
 under him as he  crosses the screen.  You will have a  hard time avoiding the
 bombs he  drops if you are  close to him,  but you can easily hit  him at any
 point during the battle,  and as long as  you use charged  shots then he wont
 last long.

 His  weakness  is the  ROLLING SHIELD,  although the  charged-up  SHOTGUN ICE
 actually kills him  in just 4 hits(!!),  but you will  probably have a harder
 time hitting  him with it.  Of course you could always  just use the HADOUKEN
 UPGRADE if you can pull it off at the right time.
 
 After  beating VILE,  you will find  ZERO close to  death, and If  you didn't
 obtain the X-BUSTER UPGRADE  on FLAME MAMMOTH'S stage,  then you will receive
 it now from ZERO before he dies.  Make your way right and  then up a long and
 annoying vertical section (you can make use of the charged up CHAMELEON STING
 here),  and at the top you will face BOOMER KUWANGER for the second time.  He
 will be a lot  easier now you definitely  have the HOMING TORPEDO,  which you
 can now charge up for  an even quicker dispatch.  After these two easy bosses
 you will soon come to the real boss for this level.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| You  will  notice  the  four  web-track  in the
|----------------------------| background  that this  large  spider  boss will
|                            | travel  downwards on.  Every time  he pauses at
| Name:             BOSPIDER | the top of the screen,  eight random connectors
| Difficulty:      Very Hard | will appear between these tracks,  and which he
| Normal X Shots:         32 | will  always use  to switch  between them.  The
| Large X Shots:          11 | trick here is work out  where he will end up at
| Weakness:      SHOTGUN ICE | the bottom of the the  screen so that can get a
|                  (11 Hits) | quick shot in  when he opens  his eye. Although
|        Charged SHOTGUN ICE | shooting  him is the  main objective,  you will
|                   (7 Hits) | also have to  judge where he  will finish up so
|----------------------------| that you  can avoid  his damaging  contact.  He
                               also speeds up as you reduce his energy, and if
 he uses the outer tracks  he can hit you even when  you are right against the
 wall - very irritating.

 He will  only open the  eye for a  split  second  before  quickly  retreating
 upwards, so unless you are close to him you will need to shoot just before he
 reaches  the bottom.  During the  pause at the top,  he sometimes  drops four
 smaller robot spiders that are too low to hit with Normal X-Buster shots, and
 which will walk along the floor and up the walls unless you destroy them.  He
 will also stop and  drop these spiders if you become level  with him while he
 descends (such as you jumping or wall climbing).

 This boss can be really annoying,  and sometimes always  seems go the way you
 do - constantly  damaging  you really  badly.  The smaller  spiders are  also
 annoying to avoid, so try not to make him drop extra ones if you can help it.
 The charged up X-Buster is effective,  but takes too long  to recharge if you
 use it  to destroy  the smaller  spiders.  The  SHOTGUN ICE  is not  only his
 weakness, but destroys the smaller spiders too, but you are likely to run out
 unless you can  manage to hit consistently.  If you ever miss your shot, then
 you will not get another chance to hit him  unless you are using the X-Buster
 - so try to make  them all count.  Use a SUB TANK if you  need one, and don't
 bother to charge up the SHOTGUN ICE - it is too difficult to get close enough
 for it to hit him. You can also use the HADOUKEN if you get lucky...


-[3.13]-------------------------SIGMA STAGE 2----------------------------------

 A short  distance into  this level  and you will  face CHILL PENGUIN  for the
 second time, but you should have even less problems this time around. Shortly
 on and you fight STORM EAGLE again - also easy,  but you may want to save the
 CHAMELEON STING for the real Boss.  You should soon come to  the boss door of
 this easier stage - but its not a particularly easy boss.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| This boss  consists  of three  different  parts
|----------------------------| that must all be destroyed separately.  The two
|                            | eyes can  only be hit  after they open  - where
| Name:        RANGDA BANGDA | they  will either  be green,  blue or red.  The
|    LEFT EYE/RIGHT EYE/NOSE | green eye  shoots 1 bullet,  the blue  one will
| Difficulty:   Intermediate | fly towards you,  and the  red one can  do both
| Normal X Shots:   10/10/12 | but fires 3 bullets.  The bottom of  the screen
| Large X Shots:       5/5/6 | has  instant death  spikes in  the middle,  and
| Weakness:  CHAMELEON STING | every so  often the walls  will close  together
|               (4/4/4 Hits) | and the  nose will come  to life -  so you need
|                            | to cling  on to the wall  and watch  out for it
|----------------------------| knocking  you onto  them.  It will  repeat this
                               over and  over  until you  either  destroy  the
 nose, or both of the eyes -  in which case the walls  will close in for good,
 and you will have to destroy the rest while desperately clinging on the wall.

 Not too difficult  as long as  you can competently  remain on the  walls when
 they close together.  By using the CHAMELEON STING  you can destroy all three
 parts quite easily,  but if you used it up earlier then you will have to hang
 on for  slightly longer.  The best tactic  either way is to  hit all three in
 equal measures -  just to make sure the last part  when you have to remain on
 the wall indefinitely, is as short as possible.


-[3.14]-------------------------SIGMA STAGE 3----------------------------------

 This level  is basically  the rematch  against all  the remaining  MAVERICKS.
 Right at the Start you will have to  fight ARMORED ARMADILLO before coming up
 against  STING CHAMELEON again.  SPARK MANDRILL, LAUNCH OCTOPUS,  and finally
 FLAME MAMMOTH completes the order, but you really shouldn't be having trouble
 against them this time around. Just use the correct weapon for each, charging
 it up for a quicker  kill (but you may want to  save the BOOMERANG CUTTER for
 the proper boss of this level) -  or even using the HADOUKEN if you have full
 energy.

 When you leave the water after beating LAUNCH OCTOPUS but before facing FLAME
 MAMMOTH,  you will see  a platform of instant  death spikes  above you  which
 holds a large  energy capsule,  a large  weapon capsule,  and an  Extra Life.
 Simply charge  up the  CHAMELEON STING and  run across the  spikes to get all
 three items -  and if you are  quick you can  even make  it to the  boss door
 while still invincible, thus evading the many enemies outside.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| A very  strange  looking  boss  that is  in two
|----------------------------| separate parts,  but only the top one will take
|                            | damage.  It will  split  up and  the two  parts
| Name:                D-REX | will move independently across the screen, with
| Difficulty:           Hard | the bottom  half knocking  you off any  wall by
| Normal X Shots:         32 | crashing  against either -  very annoying.  The
| Large X Shots:          16 | bottom part  can only  actually  damage  you by
| Weakness: BOOMERANG CUTTER | crushing  you  against  the  wall,  so you  can
|                  (11 Hits) | stand on it to avoid its charge,  but watch out
|   Charged BOOMERANG CUTTER | for the top  half trying to  crush you when you
|                   (8 Hits) | do.  Both parts will occasionally  pause on the
|----------------------------| right side  of the  screen  before  charging up
                               and then  firing a huge  plasma ball,  which is
 best avoided  by being in  the top left  corner and  jumping forward  when it
 fires - this is its most damaging attack.

 You will have to be quick to avoid contact with this unpredictable boss,  who
 will speed  up as its energy  decreases.  Dash jump between  the two halves -
 towards the  right when  it comes  towards you,  and back  to the  left as it
 returns.  It is risky to shoot while both parts  are moving because you might
 be knocked off the  wall you need to jump from (and  then stunned), so try to
 hit it with charged  shots while it is charging up  the plasma ball. You will
 almost certainly need a SUB TANK  if you are relying on the X-Buster, but you
 can fill them up to the max easily on the final level.

 If you are using the BOOMERANG CUTTER then you just need to watch out for the
 bottom half of the boss, which will simply cancel the boomerangs on contact.


-[3.15]-------------------------SIGMA STAGE 4----------------------------------

 You just need to climb upwards to finally face SIGMA, but first charge up the
 ROLLING SHIELD,  and destroy the  caterpillars that  emerge from the holes in
 the wall to fill your SUB TANKS.  With everything full,  make your way to the
 top - and the start of a sequence of battles that will give you nightmares!

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| SIGMA will teleport into the arena and give you
|----------------------------| the usual bad-guy speech before setting his pet
|                            | dog  onto you.  It is  not a hard  battle,  and
| Name:            VELGUADER | possible to  do without  getting hit -  but you
| Difficulty:           Easy | should  aim  for  at  least  half  a  LIFE  BAR
| Normal X Shots:         32 | remaining.  VELGUADER  is quite  agile, and can
| Large X Shots:          11 | leap towards you from quite a distance -  which
| Weakness:      SHOTGUN ICE | he will do right at the  start (stand still and
|                  (11 Hits) | he will jump  over you).  He can also jump from
|        Charged SHOTGUN ICE | the walls as well,  and if you are  hiding high
|                   (8 Hits) | up one, then he will vault from wall-to-wall to
|----------------------------| reach you.  His final attack is  the ability to
                               breath  either  a fire  or  ice  attack -  both
 deadly in their own right.  The ice will spray in a rainbow arc,  and is very
 hard to avoid  while standing  on the floor,  but it cannot reach you high up
 the walls.  The fire shoots  in an upwards arc,  and can hit you  high up the
 walls at  distance,  plus he can  also sneakily  fire it vertically  if he is
 right below you.

 His biggest weakness  is the push-back effect  from either the yellow or pink
 X-Buster charged shots.  So if you constantly  charge and hide  up the walls,
 you can knock him  back to the  ground every time  with a well  timed charged
 shot.  He will probably do the vertical  fire move at least once, so you need
 to jump across  the arena  and quickly  up the other  wall if he does -  then
 repeat.  You can use this  weakness successfully  from the ground  too if you
 cannot bear  to hide like  a coward,  just move  from side  to side,  quickly
 jumping over him using the walls. And remember to try the HADOUKEN UPGRADE at
 the start, once you know what he does you can get him every time.

 Because the  SHOTGUN ICE shatters  into smaller  shots when it hits the wall,
 you can fire it while  hiding high up and hit him while  he is on the ground.
 Unfortunately it doesn't  push him back after a hit  so it cannot prevent him
 from chasing  you up  the walls -  and therefore  it's not as  useful  as the
 charged X-Buster.
 
|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| After a second speech,  SIGMA ditches his cloak
|----------------------------| and faces  you himself -  with his light Sabre!
|                            | Using his Light Sabre he can block anything you
| Name:                SIGMA | throw at him,  including the  HADOUKEN UPGRADE.
| Difficulty:   Intermediate | His main method of attack  is to simply zig-zag
| Normal X Shots:         32 | from wall to wall climbing up the screen - done
| Large X Shots:          32 | to chase  you if  you hide  in the  top corners
| Weakness:   ELECTRIC SPARK | (which is where you should be).  He will damage
|                  (16 Hits) | you most often simply by crashing into you, but
|     Charged ELECTRIC SPARK | while you  are on the  floor  he has  two other
|                  (11 Hits) | attacks.  He sometimes shoots  fast laser shots
|----------------------------| from his forehead, which are hard to avoid from
                               close range,  but not much  threat at distance.
 His final  attack is to  shoot forward and  slash you with  his light sabre -
 taking off almost  a quarter of the  maximum LIFE BAR,  but you should see it
 coming unless you are really close to him (which you shouldn't ever be).

 He doesn't really  have a pattern,  but by staying high  up the walls he will
 always zig-zag  up and down  the screen -  over and over.  Just wait in a top
 corner until he is just below you, then prepare to jump down and shoot him as
 you fall. He will then zig-zag down,  so you need to judge and then dash away
 from where  he will land -  and then get  in another shot before  climbing up
 again.  You can sometimes  get him into  a (kind of)  pattern,  where you can
 safely remain in the same place whenever you fall - but this is risky because
 he will eventually come out of it. You can also use the HADOUKEN UPGRADE, but
 unless you have full energy, don't waste a SUB TANK.

 He takes too many  regular hits,  and so you  should always  use the ELECTRIC
 SPARK against him.  The ELECTRIC SPARK  splits into two when  it hits a wall,
 which is  really useful for  hitting him  while he climbs them.  The ELECTRIC
 SPARK is a rapid fire weapon,  and easy to get carried away with -  so unless
 you time your shots right then you are almost certain to run out of it during
 the battle.  Just try to  get his  energy down  significantly before  you are
 forced to use  something else (use anything  else except the  ROLLING SHIELD)
 - try the charged CHAMELEON STING (temporary invincible) for the safest time,
 and its worth noting that the HOMING TORPEDO will not home onto him.

 You should ultimately aim not to use any SUB TANKS on either of these battles
 because the  final boss  is very tough,  and drains  energy at a  frightening
 rate.

|----------------------------|
|---------| Boss |-----------| SIGMA'S head  will rise and  attach itself onto
|----------------------------| the head of a giant machine that appears in the
|                            | background.  He is so high up that the only way
| Name:          FINAL SIGMA | to hit  him is to  stand on  either of  his two
| Difficulty: Very Very Hard | moving   claws   which    unfortunately   shoot
| Normal X Shots:         NA | lightning  out of  their top  and bottom.  This
| Large X Shots:   (PINK) 32 | lighting is  very damaging,  as is contact with
| Weakness:   ROLLING SHIELD | the spikes underneath the claws - which he will
|                  (16 Hits) | occasionally  send  downwards  to hit you.  His
|                            | other move is to breath fast laser beams, which
|----------------------------| will sweep  either  left or  right,  but can be
                               expertly avoided  by dashing  through when they
 get close.  His final move  is to breath fire,  but this will miss if you are
 standing against  either wall.  All these  moves are very damaging,  and take
 skill to avoid -  so you will probably need "at least" 3  SUB TANKS to defeat
 him, and which you should use whenever you fall below half energy.

 You should try to get onto one of the  claws as early as possible rather than
 wait for him to send one down.  Then just do all you can  to remain on it for
 as long as possible,  while hitting  him at every  opportunity.  Stand on the
 very edge or try jumping  onto the wall when it shoots lighting upwards,  and
 also watch out  for the other claw  occasionally moving across.  Whenever you
 jump always  try to land back  onto the claw - this is very  tough in its own
 right,  but from up here you will  avoid the laser and fire it breathes.  You
 will need to  jump up to drop the  ROLLING SHIELD onto his head,  but you can
 also hit  him with the  largest charged  X-BUSTER shot (pink energy)  just by
 remaining standing (it does take a long time to charge this remember).

 There is not really much more advice to give because even veteran players can
 sometimes  come unstuck, but with practice (and luck) you will beat him - and
 finish the game (HOORAY!)...

 When the credits finish, wait for a few moments to see a message from SIGMA -
 he will be back!


===============================================================================

 [4]                              ENDING

===============================================================================

-[4.01]-----------------------------STORY--------------------------------------

 THE WAR HAS ENDED FOR NOW AND PEACE HAS BEEN RESTORED. BUT THOSE WHO
 SACRIFICED THEM-SELVES FOR THE VICTORY WILL NEVER RETURN.

 EXHAUSTED, X GAZES AT THE DESTRUCTION HE HELPED CAUSE AND WONDERS WHY HE
 CHOSE TO FIGHT. WAS THERE ANOTHER WAY?

 STANDING ON THE CLIFF, THE ANSWERS SEEM TO ESCAPE HIM. HE ONLY KNOWS THAT
 HE'LL FIGHT AGAIN BEFORE HE FINDS HIS ANSWER.

 HOW LONG WILL HE KEEP FIGHTING? HOW LONG WILL HIS PAIN LAST? MAYBE ONLY THE
 X-BUSTER ON HIS HAND KNOWS FOR SURE.....


-[4.02]------------------------------CAST--------------------------------------

  HIGHWAY STAGE:    OCEAN STAGE:    SNOW MOUNTAIN STAGE:   POWER PLANT STAGE:
   Spiky             Amenhopper      Ray Bit                Gun Volt
   Crusher           Sea Attacker    Tombot                 Hotarion
   Ball De Voux      Gulpfer         Bomb Been              Flammingle
   Road Attackers                    Armor Soldier          Turn Cannon
                     Anglerge        Snow Shooter
   Bee Blader        Cruiziler                              Thunder Slimer
                    Utuboros


  SKY STAGE:        FACTORY STAGE:    GALLERY STAGE:    TOWER STAGE:
   Lift Cannon       Scrap Robo        Batton Bone       Dodge Blaster
   Flamer            Dig Labour        Batton M-501      Sine Faller
   Sky Claw          Rolling Gabyool   Mettool C-15      Jamminger
                     Hoganmer          Metal Wing        Mega Tortois
   Death Rogumer                                         Slide Cannon
                                       Mole Borer        Ladder Yadder


  FOREST STAGE:     SIGMA STAGE:      CHILL PENGUIN
   Planty            Bospider         LAUNCH OCTOPUS
   Iworm             Rangda Bangda    STORM EAGLE
   Axe Max           D-Rex            ARMORED ARMADILLO
   Crag Man          Velguader        FLAME MAMMOTH
   Mad Pecker                         STING CHAMELEON
   Creeper                            SPARK MANDRILL
                                      BOOMER KUWANGER
   RT-55J                             VILE
                                      SIGMA
                                      ZERO


                             And you as MEGAMAN X


===============================================================================

 [5]                            VERSION HISTORY

===============================================================================

-[5.01]-----------------------------UPDATES------------------------------------


 1.0 - Initial Release

 1.1 - Added a few missing bits of information.
       - Mentioned that the BOOMERANG CUTTER grabs onto items,
       - Added that you can only smash blocks by jumping against them if you
         have the DASH UPGRADE,
       - Mentioned that the HEART TANK secret room in STING CHAMELEON'S stage
         will not be filled with water unless you have defeated LAUNCH
         OCTOPUS.
       - Added that destroying the secret boss on STING CHAMELEON'S stage will
         stop rocks from falling in the cave below,
       - Fixed some spellings.

 1.2 - Tidied up everything and added a few more missing bits of information.
       - Added a contents.
       - Added the Ending section.
       - Added a paragraph about the Status Screen.
       - Added to the quick Weapon Select with L and R.
       - Mentioned that the Fire Wave does not work while underwater.
       - Added the Optimal Boss order, and a Stage difficulty table.
       - Mentioned another way to gain the HEART TANK on the Tower Stage.
       - Mentioned the ability to cut off FLAME MAMMOTH'S trunk.
       - Also added many small bits here and there.

1.3 - Lots of tidying up and formatting everywhere.
       - Added my game review.
       - Updated for Megaman X5's UK release.
       - Finally mentioned that Boomer Kuwanger is a Cockroach.
       - A few poorly explained strategy points have been fixed,
          Sting Chameleon, Flame Mammoth, Velguader, etc.
       - Slightly changed the Stage Difficulty chart.


-[5.01]---------------------------DISCLAIMER-----------------------------------

 All main characters names are possibly  copyrighted to CAPCOM (the people who
 made the  game that  this guide was  wriiten for).  This guide  is all my own
 work, with all opinions also being mine,  and not that of anyone connected to
 CAPCOM. You may only  reproduce this document for  non-profit use, and if you
 want to put this  file on your site  please ask me first (I  have always said
 yes so far).   I hope you  find this  guide  useful,  and remember  to always
 respect the work of others!


-------------------------------------END---------------------------------------
Thanks for reading
crespo99@btinternet.com