@@ #@#@@ @#@@#@@ @#@@ @@@ @@@@@@ %##% @@@@ @@@@ @@@## ##@@@ @@#@ #@@@@@@ %@@% @@@ ##@@@# %##@ #@@@@ @####@ #@@% ##@@@ @@@#@@ @@@% ##@@%##@ ##@% @#@#@ @@@@#@% ##@#% #@@#@% %@#@@#% %@@@ @@##% @#@@ #@@@#@#@ @@@@@@@@@#@####@@% ####@@# @#@ @##@@@@@@@@@@@@#@@ @##@#@ @@@@#@ @###@% @@## @#@# @@##@@ @@@@@@@@@ #@@@ @@@@@ @##@# @@@@ @@#@@ @@@@@@ Axelay for the Super Nintendo W A L K T H R O U G H Version 1.0 Written by AstroBlue (tetsuwan_blue(at)yahoo.com.au) Last Updated: April 19th, 2002 ******************************************************************************* Welcome to AstroBlue's Walkthrough for the wonderful SHMUP, Axelay! This is easily one of the best SHMUP's for the Super Nintendo... Parodius is still my favourite ^_^. It's rumoured that this game was programmed by the development team that left Konami to form the Treasure, the SHMUP gurus. The only proof I've found of this claim, is the abundant quality of this title. Quality which is oh so prominent in Treasure games. We'll just ignore their last two attempts on the PS2... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Official names of bosses and stages thanks to Issue 2 (May/June 1993) of Super XS (Bournemouth: Paragon Publishing). Best video game magazine ever! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =============================================================================== W A L K T H R O U G H =============================================================================== S T A G E 1 - Cumuluses ******************************** For this introductory level you are only able to select the Straight Laser, Round Vulcan and Macro Missile weapons. Almost as soon as you begin, swarms of fighters will fly in and "buzz" you, use the Straight Laser whilst swaying back and forth to take them all out. Watch out for any stray bullets they shoot at you. When a whole fleet of scout ships encircle Axelay, switch to the Round Vulcan weapon (tap the R Button) and proceed to pulse the B Button so the fire sprays 160° either side of Axelay, destroying all the scout ships in the process. Once you take out 3 fleets of scout ships, switch back to the Straight Laser. Shoot the jet fighters surrounded by two orbitals down before the orbitals begin to fire deadly lasers. Many floating islands will now litter your flight path. Dodge in between them and shoot the ones that are armed with lasers. Once you destroy the armed islands they will shatter into rock debris, so switch to the Round Vulcan and hold down the B Button so your fire fans out to clear a path. Soon the Axelay will pick up speed, this is your cue for the mid-stage boss. It's a giant battle cruiser that can submerge and resurface from the deep cloud cover. It is armed with triple lasers, homing missiles and spraying gun fire, all of which are hard to avoid. The best strategy is to switch to the Macro Missiles, fire a bunch into it and then bail to the right or left. Remember to press the A Button to fire the Macro Missiles, otherwise you'll use your weak tertiary fire. Another strategy is to use your Round Vulcan, tap the B Button rapidly so you're firing constantly at a angle of about 45°. Now keep the battle cruiser in the corner of the screen. If you do this you'll damage it, but it won't be able to damage you easily. After defeating the mid-stage boss, you will be presented with a maze of rock cliffs. Purple webs will block your way between them. Use Macro Missiles on them, as the after fire caused by the Macro Missiles will burn through the webs quite efficiently. This area is also filled with little spider droids, battle ships which fire plasma balls at you, and air mines which will explode into multi-directional debris if you get close. The next wave of cliffs will be guarded by turrets, use your Macro Missiles to destroy them easily. Near the end you will have to fly hard to the left or right to get past the spiralling cliffs. After a wall of mines and a lull in the swarms, the end-boss will appear. A giant spider called Arachnatron. A r a c h n a t r o n --------------------- Where's a giant shoe when you need it? Anyhow, this giant metal spider has only 2 different attacks. It releases 4 smaller spiders that will shot at you, and it shoots out an energy web that will slow down your movement, so it is able to fire at you. Use Macro Missiles on it's blue eye to cause heavy damage to it, also hold down the B Button so you have a constant stream of weak tertiary fire. It won't do much, but at least it will help a little. --------------------- S T A G E 2 - Tralieb Colony ******************************** You are now able to select Explosion Bombs for Axelay's Bay. But I wouldn't use them, since Macro Missiles are indispensable in this stage. Your first side-scrolling level, and it's a beauty. Whilst travelling to the colony, waves of bombers will fly towards you and will release their whole payload of missiles at you. Use Macro Missiles to take them all out. On arrival to the colony you will be greeted by a hangar door, when it opens up quickly head through the gap before it closes. Quickly switch to the Round Vulcan and shoot the turrets on the top and bottom walls before you get swamped in bullets. After another stubborn hangar door, get ready for a long tricky section. Make sure you have your Round Vulcan equipped to take out the many turrets, bombers and turret droids that swamp this area. Rush forward and manoeuvre between all the moving platforms while shooting down the mines on the chains. Note that you can fly past the chains, so you don't have to shoot down every mine to get past, but it would help. When you reach the giant ships with the four octopus like arms, hit them directly in the center with Macro Missiles to destroy them. Further on are jump ships that drop a swarm of turret droids, take them out with Macro Missiles before they release their whole load. After more moving platforms and mines, you will come across a broken hangar door. Head through the gap to the next section. In here, use your Round Vulcan like before to clear all the turrets and bombers from the immediate area. But watch out, ahead there's a bunch of giant cargo crates held up by two pylons in your way. Shoot out the first pylon and then fly forward towards the second pylon, now shoot it out and quickly head forward before the crates crush you. Soon you will meet up with a robot that looks like the baby of an AT-ST from Star Wars and H.R.Giger's Alien. It's this stage's end boss. T - 3 6 T o w b a r -------------------- The easiest way to destroy the T-36 is to fire a constant stream of Macro Missiles at its "head", so the after fire hits the "core" and causes damage. You can tell when the T-36 is being damaged as its "core" will flash blue. Simply do this while avoiding his machine gun fire and spray bullets. However, if you're proficient with the Round Vulcan, stay real low and hold down the B Button, your shots will damage the machine gun or the "core". Destroying the machine gun will make you job much easier. Now, when it walks forward, fly over its head and hover just behind its "core". From here tap the B Button slowly so you're shooting from the rear of Axelay into the T-36's "core". If the T-36 shoots a light beam from its head, fly the Axelay up really high as it means the T-36 is about to use its brutal crush laser. -------------------- S T A G E 3 - Urbanite ******************************** You are now able to select the Needle Cracker for Axelay's Pod. Select it because its homing and scattering abilities are really helpful. Also select Explosion Bombs for Axelay's Bay, as they are really good for destroying the weak bits in the pipe mazes above the cities. Joy, another vertical scroller! Spider bots will submerge from the craters on the planet surface, so be sure to steer clear of them. Continue to blast away at them, the fighter ships and the three armed octopus droids. As you come over the city, a bunch of winged mechs will come flying up, destroy them with your Needle Cracker before they can attack with fireballs. Once you reach the pipe maze, quickly shoot the golden corners with your Explosion Bombs and avoid the fireballs shot by the spider ends. The spider ends will also crawl forward extending the pipe, so watch out. As you exit the maze, you'll fly over a large crate. This means you'll need to take on the next mid-stage boss. It's a giant mother ship with two huge lasers. Switch to the Round Vulcan and fire away as you circle around him. Only the two huge lasers and the phallic chain gun in between the lasers are vulnerable to fire. The Round Vulcan will obliterate all the yellow ships which will encircle the mother ship for protection. As you come over the next city, more winged mechs will come flying up. This time they use large beams of electricity, so stay away from the area directly in front of them. For the second pipe maze, the weak points are the rotating turret sections. So keep firing Explosion Bombs at those areas of the pipes. When you finally get through that, get ready to fight the end of stage boss. A giant flying saucer! R e g e n e r t o i d --------------------- Aim your Round Vulcan on the four revolving guns until they are destroyed. The rest of the Regenertoid will now materialise, and will fire a large cluster of bombs at you. Dodge these bombs if you want to survive, and shoot constantly at the tabs on the rim of the Regenertoid with the Needle Cracker. After destroying them all, the boss will reveal it's last attachments, giant lasers and missile pads. Try to sway back and forth in a rythm that will let you dodge the lasers. He has very good defense, so keep blasting away with the Explosion Bombs. --------------------- S T A G E 4 - The Cavern ******************************** You now have access to the Cluster Bomb for Axelay's Bay. But they really are quite useless. Choose the Straight Laser, Round Vulcan and Explosion Bomb combo. You'll be mainly using the Round Vulcan during this stage. Oh... a beautiful grotto filled with mutated nasties. Switch to the Round Vulcan and pulse the B Button to destroy the mutant pods on the ceiling and floor of the grotto. Watch out for the spikey pods, as they explode into a bunch of homing shards. Shoot them down before they can do that. Also, steer clear of the red pods. A red worm lurks inside that will jut out of the pod at break neck speed, intent on crushing the Axelay. Don't shoot the jellyfish in the water unless you want a hard time, they will leave a spray of bullets in their wake. If amoebas attach to the Axelay, sway it up and down rapidly to shake them off. Otherwise they will drag the Axelay down into the ground with their weight. Having more than three attach to your ship is lethal. The pink flying millipedes are almost impossible to destroy with your Round Vulcan, so use your Explosion Bombs. Further on there will be one of those spikey pods laying on top of a rock cliff. Fly under and in front of it and then tap the B Button slowly so the Round Vulcan fires behind the Axelay into it. When their is a fork in the cavern path, take the top path as it's the easiest. Use the Round Vulcan to destroy all the enemy pods like at the start of the level. If you take the lower path you'll be swamped by strange fish and blobs that jut out to destroy your ship. After the split, there will be a cluster of ice blocks. Take them out with your Round Vulcan and dodge any cave amoebas lurking between the blocks. After a lull in the blasting, down will drop the end boss from the ceiling. A q u a d o n ------------- As you meet up with this mutant fish, it will dislodge itself from the roof causing large chunks of rock to fall from the cavern roof. To prevent being crushed, fly down to the bottom of the cave, and aim your Round Vulcan so it's shooting upwards toward the roof (tap the B Button to do this). To annihilate Aquadon, fly just above it to the left and drop Explosive Bombs so they hit its eye, this will cause its red fleshy core to ooze out of its mouth. So when it does this, aim for the red core. When Aquadon releases mutant wasps, use your Round Vulcan to destroy them, while staying out of the purple energy beams range. The purple energy beam doesn't hurt your ship, but it will switch your selected weapon. Which is quite distracting. just continue to bomb at the red fleshy core until the Aquadon is dead. You could also fire at the core with a constant stream of the Straight Laser. ------------- S T A G E 5 - The Lava Planet ******************************** You are now able to select the Morning Star for Axelay's Side. It can be quite useful in this stage, because of its shielding properties. But as always, the Round Vulcan is indispensable in this stage, so it's better to choose it with the Needle Cracker and Macro Missiles. Use your Needle Cracker to blast through the swarms of alien ships. To avoid the giant fire worms, fly underneath the "loop" they make as they dive back in the magma. Just ahead are exhaust vents, dodge out of their way to avoid the gusts of fire that will rush up towards the Axelay. Do this while firing at the laser equipped ships that cover this area. After the exhaust vents, shoot at the squid bots that have orbiting fireballs with your Macro Missiles to destroy them. Then keep using your Needle Cracker to plough through the waves of enemy ships. Shoot the Fire Dragons with Macro Missiles to disintegrate them, and then you'll be able to fly straight through their remains. Also use them on the helicopters that fly up from the launching pads. Keep using the Needle Cracker on all the small enemy ships, while you dodge the enemy homing missiles. Dodge back and forth, to avoid the bullets that will carpet this area. Soon enough the lava will fold in, and a giant humanoid formed of fire will pop out. It's the Wayler... W a y l e r ----------- The only vulnerable part of the Wayler is the left side of his chest (to your right), so constantly fire Macro Missiles at that area. Macro Missiles are great against him, as they can even penetrate through his hands. Stay towards the bottom of the screen throughout this battle, while watching out for his attacks. You'll know you're doing good if you expose his green heart. Dodge in between the three fireballs, he constantly shoots. If he covers his face with his hands, it means he's going to use fire breath. To avoid his fire breath, quickly steer Axelay to the far left or right. If he raises one of his hands, it probably means he's going to pound at the lava, causing globules of lava to fly up at you. So get ready to dodge this attack. After enough blasting he will disintegrate before your eyes. ----------- S T A G E 6 - The Armada ******************************** You now have access to the Wind Laser for Axelay's Pod. It's a very strong weapon and this is the only stage you get to use it, so I suggest you do so. Although, if you're not that good at dodging enemy craft and fire, you probably should use the Needle Cracker because of its slight homing properties. The Morning Star is more useful in this stage than the Round Vulcan and the Macro Missiles are the most useful Bay weapon, so select both of them. You've finally reached the alien mothership. Although, there is still an armada of star destroyers between you and it. To destroy them easily, line up with the ir cockpit and pull back while firing your Wind Laser. Pulling back will concentrate the lasers so they intersect and destroy most of the star destroyer's armaments. Fly along the top side of the ship while firing, to destroy the rest. The cannons on top take a lot of firepower to destroy. The last star destroyer is red, and after a couple more swarms of fighters, you'll reach the fortress. There is a walker droid to greet your arrival, stay out of his light beam whilst destroying all those annoying kangaroo mechs with your Macro Missiles. As soon as the first doors begin to close, quickly head over to the right side of the screen and through the narrow bit ahead or you'll get stuck between the walker droid and a hard place. Head through the two interlock doors ahead and the walker droid will have to abandon pursuit. Select your Morning Star and tap the B Button rapidly to destroy all of the turrets. You may have trouble with the missile launching bots around here, so get ready to dodge them. You have to shoot the doors ahead to open them, so continue to tap the B Button rapidly. Once more kangaroo mechs appear switch back to your Macro Missiles, as the Morning Star is too weak. Keep blasting away at the swarms of varied enemy ships until you reach the mid-stage boss, a giant blue-green flying fortress. Destroy both of his drones and then keep a constant stream of Macro Missiles fired at its top left edge. Eventually you will expose its red core, keep blasting at it until it explodes. While you're battling him, take note of the vents which try to suck you in. Use your Macro Missiles to destroy all the final enemies while you dodge all the enemy fire that will swamp you. Eventually you'll make it to the alien leader, Veinion. V e i n i o n ------------- Veinion will produce two rock-like tumours that will rotate anti-clockwise, disappear, rotate clockwise, disappear, etc. Circle in the orientation they are while blasting away at Veinion with your Macro Missiles. After you destroy first armaments, Veinion's "head" will go gold, and it will produce a myriad of obstacles. Switch to your Wind Lasers and fly around avoiding everything, eventually your lasers will hit the golden "head" enough to destroy it. Veinion will now send out two probes to scan your ship. It uses this info to create a bunch phantom Axelay clones. Where you move, they move. When you shoot, they shoot. So stay still in one far corner of the screen and fire away with your Wind Laser. Eventually all the mechanical bits will explode only leaving the mutated alien core. You have to constantly move during this part, or you will die! If you chose the Needle Cracker use it, otherwise anything will do. Once this festering mutated blob takes enough damage, you'll have saved the Illis Solar System! Congrats! ------------- Enjoy the dodgy ending! =============================================================================== A P P E N D I X =============================================================================== Stage Select ^^^^^^^^^^^^ On the title screen press left or right. The bottom left corner of the screen will display the stage you're to start from if you select START. Invincibility ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Pause the game and press the X Button. In place of the lives display will be the word "MUTEKI!!", which is Japanese for Invincible. ******************************************************************************* FAQ STATS -=-=-=-=-=- Version 1.0 Update No 0 Size 20.6KB Pages 7 Words 3524 Characters 20383 Paragraphs 326 Lines 394 GameFAQs CONTRIBUTOR PAGE- www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/4127.html EMAIL- tetsuwan_blue(at)yahoo.com.au If I don't reply, it's either; I don't know the answer to the question, the answer to your question is in the FAQ, or you're sending me info I already know or someone else has sent before you. LEGAL SECTION -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- No material from this FAQ may be paraphrased, copied, changed or re-formatted without my permission. It may only be posted on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) and IGN FAQs (faqs.ign.com). Under no circumstances may this FAQ be posted on Cheat Code Central. This document was written exclusively for use on the internet. It is not intended to be used in any way that is profitable for anyone other than the author. It is not to be reproduced in any way without express written permission from the author. More information on copyright laws can be found at the copyright section of the official Library of Congress web site. (http://www.loc.gov/copyright). Axelay and related elements are trademarks of KONAMI Co. _______________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright 2002 AstroBlue