dd wrote:The radar has 2 separate sets of tones. In both sets the lower pitched one is just like a general warning that there's something passing by, but it won't directly hit you. The higher tone is the one that means you're gonna get hit if you don't move, and there is indeed a hitting prediction for incoming angled projectiles.
Really helpful information. I knew how the radar worked, but didn't know that there was angle prediction going on. It's a little confusing, but it is useful and seems to be really accurate.
Below are questions I have about stage 7, and a manual for those having trouble with the 5-4 boss. Question first.
ON stage 7, there are indeed a gazillion things on the screen, but I think? there may be a way to avoid it, or at least keep things from getting out of control. On 7-1, I was once in a state where there, say, only maybe 5 missiles on screen at once, and somehow I ended the level and began the bonus level, without much threat. I ended up dying shortly after, so when I tried again, I ended up with a gazillion missiles at the end of the level. I somehow managed to avoid being burned to oblivion by staying at one specific point on the screen. It was like I was invisible to the projectiles or something, the radar never went off telling me I was about to get hit, and I survived for at least a minute or two. Then I found out that there was a thing that the radar saw that said it was like 90 seconds until collision, but it wouldn't tell me about what the enemy was. I guess that hasn't been translated yet. Whatever that thing was didn't seem to be moving though, or at least maybe it was moving really slowly since I do recall one time having the level end without me destroying that thing, but when I did destroy it, the missiles seemed to be blowing up the missile launchers or something, which finally calmed things down and soon the level was over. I am pretty confused at this point, but something is telling me that there's a secret to keeping those missiles from getting out of control. I'll get some sleep and work on it later. Does anyone know what this is about?
Now my manual for 5-4:
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The trick to this stage is knowing the pattern of the rockets and knowing what you can and cannot do. To start, I recommend slowing the game down in the mission settings, that helped me a lot and is advantageous for a lot of things in the game for your first runthrough.
At least on easy difficulty (haven't tried other difficulties), the boss will ascend and descend a few times like the drill boss. When he wants to fire his rockets he'll warp to another place on the screen. I don't think it's the same place each time but I honestly haven't checked. In any case, he'll be paralyzed there while the rockets are on screen. The rockets he fires are at somewhat random positions but do stick to a pattern: right side, left side, right side, pause, then the same thing again. After that he'll start moving again and firing missiles at you before switching back to rockets. None of the rockets he fires will cross center, but do not depend on trying to slip between them. That hardly ever works because their ranges have overlap.
I prefer to be closer to the left side of the screen when the rockets are fired. That way you'll have a good chance of being clear of the right rocket. So stay on the left side as soon as the right rocket fires. The left one won't be long in coming, but despite that, stick to the left side until the right one goes boom. As soon as it does, hold right arrow to quickly get out of the way before the left rocket explodes. This is a time critical maneuver, so be quick! Head right until the left one booms. Now, the next rocket, which should be on the right, is dangerously close, so switch direction and head back to the left side of the board. This is just as time critical of a maneuver as the previous one. If you did it right, you avoided all three rockets! You'll have to repeat for the second set of three rockets. The boss is very vulnerable all the while, and I often find that the second set of rockets is more widely dispersed than the first, so you could very well pound away at him while the rockets are fired. Of course don't drop your guard though!
Whatever you do, don't mindlessly go in one direction or get too close to the sides. IF you're too far over to one side you run the risk of not being able to move fast enough to get out of the way.
Make more of less, that way you won't make less of more!
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