Alien Soldier: FAQ/Walkthrough By: Freedan the Eternal freedan_the_eternal@yahoo.com Copyrights (aka: the stuff you won't read): Alien Soldier is trademark Treasure, Sega, and whoever else. Honestly, I don't care. If they sue me for every penny I own, they'll get about fifty bucks. This Faq is copyright Freedan the Eternal 2003, please ask me before posting it on another site. Then you may not alter it in any way shape or form, yadda yadda, insert incomprehensible legal-ese here). Sites the currently have my permission: www.gamefaqs.com ----------------------------------- Table of Contents ----------------------------------- 1. Introduction 2. What is Alien Soldier? 3. Basics 4. Weapons 5. Powerups 6. Opening story (My interpretation) 7. Characters 8. Walkthrough 9. Closing 10. Updates ----------------------------------- 1. Introduction ----------------------------------- The main reason I am writing this faq is that the only other one makes several mistakes and misses important facts. I'm not dissing it, I just think he should play the game more than twice before writing a guide for it. What about me? I have officially beaten this game twenty-seven times. Woo for me! I have no life! Meh. Also, I'm going to provide an understandable version of the story, as I see it anyway. It contains major spoilers, but this is a shooter game, so who gives a ****? I've given names to all the nameless characters and contructed dialogue for scenes where I think it goes, so see my story! If you disagree with my view of the story, then please, write up your version, send it to me, and I'll add it to the faq. You can have your name in a faq! You're gonna be famous! Oh, yeah. I will not be held responsible for any damage to your intelligence or sanity due to reading the bad jokes in this faq. Whenever I say "the other faq" in this guide, I mean SStrife's guide, which is the only other faq for Alien Soldier at the time of this faq's creation. NOTE: I played this game on an emulator. I used Gens, and some stages seemed slightly glitchy. I haven't tried it on Genecyst, like the site reccomends, but the newest version of Gens seems to have fixed all the glitches. SEEMS to have. Sometimes a couple of stages have graphical errors, but nothing serious. ----------------------------------- 2. What is Alien Soldier? ----------------------------------- Alien Soldier is a marvolous shooter from Treasure, the creaters of the greatest shooter of all time, Gunstar Heros! You've played it, right? No? Then go get it. NOW! Back so soon? Now, Alien Soldier is along the same lines as Gunstar Heros, namely, lots of shooting. But what the game really focuses on is the bosses. It's like someone said, "Why make a game building up to just a few really cool final bosses? Let's make a whole game of 'em!" And someone else said, "Yer a damn nutcase!" But they made Alien Soldier anyway. There's maybe one minute of baddie bashing between each of the bosses. The bosses are what this faq will focus on. ----------------------------------- 3. Basics ----------------------------------- Okay, this game has your basic setup on the Genesis controller. We'll go over your moves here. 1. Weapon Ring Press the 'A' button to open your weapon ring with your four weapons. Use the left and right on the control pad to cycle through them, then press 'A' again to choose one. Simple. Remember, the weapons you're not using will slowly recharge, so change out when you run low on ammo! 2. Fire Wanna guess? Okay, don't. Tap 'B' to shoot, hold for rapid fire. Aim with the control pad. Shoot in eight directions. You can't move while shooting. Okay, you CAN, but we'll get to that later. 3. Jump Tap 'C' for a little hop, hold to jump further. Hold up when you press 'C' to jump even higher. Whee! 4. Zero Teleport Possibly the most important move in the game, hold down and press 'C' to fly across the screen, completely immune to attacks! Until you land, that is. Use this move to cross huge gaps and to teleport through bosses safely, so you can get behind them! Now, when your life meter is maxed out, use this move to turn yourself into a firebird and waste anything in your path! Sometimes this attack can practically erase half a boss's life meter! However, it saps life from you. On the Supereasy difficulty, it saps 30 points, on Superhard, it saps 50. But the damage is well worth the price! 5. Catch The second most important move, double-tap 'B' to create a ball of energy in front of you for a split second. If an enemy shot is caught in this, it turns it into a lifeup! You can also use this to throw some enemy attacks right back at them! In combo with the Zero Teleport, you can repeatedly ram bosses! 6. Hover Press 'C' during a jump to turn on your jets and hover in place. You can then drop down or jump higher. You cannot hover twice during one jump. You can also teleport out of hovering. 7. Firing Mode Okay, tired of not being able to move and shoot at the same time? Hold down and press 'A' to switch to secondary fire. This allows you to start shooting, then move while firing in the same direction! Not useful in most situations, but there are some bosses that this makes so easy. 8. Ceiling Cling Jump up into the ceiling to stand on it. That's right, STAND. You'll be upside down, but still be able to move and shoot freely! Remember, jumping will drop you to the floor. Look, Ma! No hands! Also, make sure you press UP instead of DOWN to teleport from the ceiling, as up and down are reversed. It's real humiliating to drop on a boss's head when you try to avoid him. Look, Ma! No brains! 9. Speed Down Only available on Supereasy difficulty, if the game is too fast for you, you can turn the game speed down. Remember! Though the game is slower, the timer moves at the same rate. So basically, it takes longer to do things that could be done quickly. Watch that timer! When it hits zero, for some unknown reason, Epsilon spontaniously combusts. ----------------------------------- 4. Weapons ----------------------------------- You are given a choice of four weapons at the start. You can take one more than once for more ammo. Here are the choices: 1. Buster Force Your basic straight-forward shot. It's got a nice firing rate, range, and punch. It's not really a must-have, but it is useful for baddie bashing, but not so much for bosses. 2. Ranger Force This weapon fires four shots in a spread pattern, but its fire rate is too slow to really be useful. 3. Flame Force Hotfoot! This weapon fires fire in a small spread in the direction aimed.This weapon is extremely powerful, sucking away a boss's life faster than any other weapon, but its ammo consumption is very high and its range is abysmal. 4. Homing Force Your basic traveling companion. It shoots fireballs that track the enemy. It's not as powerful or as long-ranged as the Buster Force, but you don't have to aim! Hell yeah! It will also pass right through enemy defenses! Double hell yeah! My personal favorite. Bring at least one of these. 5. Sword Force A thin beam of light cuts across the screen. Kinda your range weapon, but its damage varies. Long-range = abysmal damage. Mid-range = good damage. Short-range = heavy damage. Point Blank = Aw snap! This damage 0wnz! 6. Lancer Force The end all. The final weapon. The ass kicker. Okay, maybe not all that, but this is a must have. A single beam of light shoots across the screen, wasting anything in its path. But you only get about six shots to start with. ----------------------------------- 5. Powerups ----------------------------------- Small Diamond: Restores 30 life. Large Diamond: Restores 100 life. Gold Orb: Restores all life and boosts max life by about 30-40 points. Weapon Powerup: Pick it up and your current weapon will be replaced by the weapon displayed. The picture cycles through the weapons, so wait for the one you want. If it matches your current weapon, your ammo will be restored and your max ammo will be boosted by 250 points. Get all you weapons maxed at 2000 to be a walking armory. ----------------------------------- 6. Opening story (My interpretation) ----------------------------------- The year is 2015. The people of the planet Sierra have advanced in biotechnology enough to create creatures that are combinations of man and animals. A group of these creatures have banded together and become a terrorist group known as Scarlet. Their leader, Epsilon, has declared that the Sierrans will be denied the ability to move into space and colonize other worlds. Whenever theSierrans attempt to launch a spaceship, they are violently attacked by Scarlet troops. The Sierrans plan to assasinate Epsilon, hoping that Scarlet will then disband. But before they can move, a group inside Scarlet attacks Epsilon. He is banished into a Time Portal, into the Time-Space continuum, where his body is destroyed and his spirit can watch the world, but not interact. The leader of this rebellion, Xi-Tiger, takes control of Scarlet. Under Xi-Tiger's leadership, Scarlet becomes more aggressive. The attacks on the Sierrans become more frequent and increasingly more violent. Unrest builds within the ranks of Scarlet. Many desire the return and reinstatement of Epsilon. Xi-Tiger must move to fix this. He opens the Time Portal that Epsilon had been banished into, finding the bird-man gone. He tracks Epsilon's life-force to a laboratory where young children are being used as guinia pigs to make the ultimate super soldiers. Xi-Tiger senses Epsilon's spirit inside a young boy, so he takes a girl hostage and threatens to kill her if Epsilon doesn't come out of the boy's body. The boy is enraged and his spirit merges with Epsilon's, and his body morph's into the birdman Epsilon used to be. Xi-Tiger sees he cannot win here, so he kills the girl and makes his escape. Epsilon speaks, "Xi-Tiger! You cannot escape me! You'll pay for your crimes against humanity! You'll never escape!" Epsilon flew off in search of Xi-Tiger. As he left, he saw something unusual. When the boy's spirit had merged with his own, the evil of Epsilon's soul had been forced out. It was now flying off searching for its own body. He'd deal with it later. ----------------------------------- 7. Characters ----------------------------------- These biographies were created by me, and I have no idea if they have any relation to the actual story. I also gave some nameless characters names. Oh, and I also named every stage in the game! I have way too much time on my hands! Epsilon-Eagle The good guy. The guy you play as. Also a bad guy. WTF? Epsilon looks like a birdman with metal armor and a jet pack. What else is there to say? Xi-Tiger This Wolverine wannabe is the one who had Epsilon banished into the time space continuum. He looks human except for those yellow claws coming out of his hands. He dresses all in black except for that grey body-armor. You'll know him when you see him. Professor Higharolla Kockamamie The scientist who created the devices that create these human-animal crosses. Now, he is experimenting on innocent children, turning them into super soldiers. Epsilon's gonna have to do something about that. Can he handle this kockamamie scheme? Epsilon-One The robotic body that the evil part of Epsilon's soul has taken. It looks like a big, metal, purple bird. It seeks no less than the complete destruction of life on Sierra. One of Epsilon's most deadly opponents, he'll have to watch his step when he confronts it. Sara Grodin The girl thought killed by Xi-Tiger, she was found by a celestial force, who brought her back from the dead and granted her immeasurable power. Now, she seeks revenge on Epsilon for not saving her from Xi-Tiger. Z-Leo The mysterious celestial being who saved Sara, what could this force want with Sierra? ----------------------------------- 8. Walkthrough ----------------------------------- Part 1 - The Hunt for Xi-Tiger Stage 1 - Streets of Neo-Tokyo Epsilon begins his chase in the streets. What is there to say? Blast the baddies and run to the right. Collect all the powerups. BOSS - Mechapede This is the most pathetic enemy you'll face. When he's thrashing around, stand on the roof and blast him. Watch the shots he throws at you. When he gets down low and bunches up, drop down and Zero Teleport with full health to kill him. One down! Stage 2 - More Streets of Neo-Tokyo *Yawn.* Blast baddies. Grab gold orb for health. EPSILON SMASH! BOSS - Antroid A big cricket. The homing force is very effective. Blast him, when he hops toward you, teleport behind him. Whenever he jumps, you need to teleport past him. When he spits acid, either catch it for healthups or teleport past it. Laugh as he writhes in pain as he dies. We're just getting warmed up! Stage 3 - Xi-Tiger's Personal Bodyguard Scarlet pulls out more stops for Epsilon in this stage, but even a rookie should be able to handle it. MID-STAGE BOSS Just switch to the homing force and blast the damn thing. Watch for its shots! Heh heh heh... BOSS - Shell Shogun This rotund samurai packs a punch. Watch that sword! Aim for the head with the homing force or lancer force. Whenever he swings, either teleport past it or move away from him. If you have max life, remember to be level with his head when you teleport. When he blows up, laugh and say "That's it. No more mister knife guy." Stage 4 - After Xi-Tiger! Epsilon is getting closer to his arch-rival. Remember to use your ceiling cling to avoid mines. If you see a floating mine, catch it to send it flying away. If it hits an enemy, it'll do MAJOR damage. BOSS - Sniper Honeyviper Dead AND ugly! That's hard! What do I mean by dead? THIS! Blast the sucker with your homing force, and notice where it homes into. The thing's back. Its attacks include whacking the ground, sending rocks flying your way, raining mines from the sky, and releasing bugs that turn into a bullet when you shoot them. Use them to catch shots to max out your life meter, then teleport to the thing's backside (through him), then switch to the lancer force or flame force and administer the ENEMA FROM HELL! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry. *Cough.* Does wonders for my asthma. Stage 5 - Into the Rail Car Station Hmm. Shoot baddies. Grab the powerup. Try to stay on the roof. Get max health before boss. BOSS - Madam Barber Talk about crabby! This sucker's claws will block any weapon except the homing force, so that's what I recommend. 'Course, that's what I always recommend. Get on the roof and use the teleport to knock a third of her life away. Then SHOOT THE DAMN THING! If you're not using the homing force, then you'll have to get underneath it, which is a very dangerous area. She'll swipe at you with her claws and throw exploding eggs. The little crabs will hold onto you so you can't move or shoot, so tap everything quickly to break free. Stay on the roof if you can, remember to shoot the little crabs. Teleport when she gets too close to you, and when healthups appear, snatch 'em up, then ram the evil (female dog)! Truncated adds: "There is a place close to the left of it on the roof where you can stand, where the crab will miss with the claws but still not walk towards you. You can just stand here and use your homing force while the crab attacks in vain." Stage 6 - Amphibeous Assault This stage is shorter than usual. Huh. You know what to do. BOSS - Joker A giant frog... What will they think of next. One thing is important for this fight. STAY ON THE DAMN ROOF! The only, and by only I mean ONLY, reason you have to drop down is that you have a maxed life meter and are going to ram him. Shoot him with whatever weapon you want, it doesn't really matter. Catch the shots his eggs shoot at you to charge up. In moments you'll have thousands of fried frog legs. Moments? But I want it now! Stage 7 - The Last Obstruction Xi-Tiger is close, but Epsilon hasn't caught him yet. Blast the last of the baddies. The powerup in this stage is hidden behind one of those billboards. Shoot the homing force to locate it. BOSS - Walking Tank This big robot is one pain in the ass. I say, either stand on the roof or behind the box to the left. Shoot at the cockpit on the front. Shoot the missles it shoots at you. It also has two forward guns. You'll see them charging up before firing. The top one will hit you only if you're on the roof, and the bottom will hit you only if you're standing right in front of it. Ram it to knock off about 1000 points of life. Once it's gone, it's on to Xi-Tiger! (Getting tired of reading that name yet?) Truncated adds: "I found standing on the box to the left using the lancer worked better than the roof or behind the box." Stage 8 - The Train Ride from Hell Epsilon will see Xi-Tiger on the roof of the rail car! You're practically on top of him! Run to the right, blasting Tiger's flunkies and grab the powerup and for the love of GOD, if you don't have the homing force, use the powerup to get it! BOSS - Flying-Neo This flyin' freak isn't tough. Shoot it in the head and teleport past it. When its life gets down to about 1000, it will turn invisible. Equip the homing force. Now, whenever it enters the screen, a blue crosshair will appear at its head. Now you still know where it is! Shoot it until it dies! Stage 9 - Final Confrontation This stage begins with two waves of psyco bugs. One from either direction. Shoot them all, try not to get too busted up. Catch their shots if you can. Then, a big, purple, blimp, thing will fly overhead. A snake will drop down to attack you. Ram it if you have the health, otherwise just shoot it. Watch out for shots coming from overhead. Catch them to fill up your life meter. After it has passed, get ready for the showdown. BOSS - Xi-Tiger Epsilon: Time to die. Tiger: You actually managed to catch me. Epsilon: You're going to pay for what you have done. Tiger: Do you realize that each of us, the ultimate forms of life, possesses two body forms? Your second is obviously that fire-bird form. Now witness mine! Xi-Tiger will transform into an enormous beast with claws the size of cars. Equip the homing force, or you're in for a tough fight. Tiger has three attacks. An upward slash that he will crouch down before using, a leaping slash that he jumps in the air for, and a downward stab that he'll have to raise his arm to use. His arms will block any shots but the homing force, so if you don't have it, then you'll have to nail him when he raises his arm, exposing his chest. Otherwise, just shoot him and teleport to keep your distance. Eventually, the bastard will die. Part 1 finished! Truncated adds: "Homing force is good, but the lancer when he does the upward strike works wonders." Part 2 - To Save the Children Epsilon goes in search of the laboratory to rescue the children from being turned into science experiments. Upon finding it, he also finds an underground base where the human-animal creatures are created for Scarlet. Time to blow **** up! Stage 10 - Entryway Epsilon must make his way into the underground base. This stage presents a new hazard. Bottomless pits. Like all video game heros, Epsilon has a natural weakness to these. But Epsilon doesn't die instantly like all the others. Press jump repeatedly to jump back out, but remember that your life will gradually leak away when you fall. On Supereasy, there will usually be platforms across the pits, but on Superhard, the only thing to save you will be your hovering ability. BOSS- Jaws Naughty fish! Naughty! I just can't take him anywhere, y'know? This terror of the deep has two, count'em, TWO attacks. The first, he will leap out of the water to try and drag you into it. The second, he will sit in the water and spit eggs at you. Catch the eggs for lifeups and ram him as he leaps about. He'll be dead in two hits. Shoot him with the homing force if you don't have the life for a ram. Stage 11 - The Kockamamie Scheme When you reach the big thing that comes out of the water and looks like a giant anus, crouch to avoid its shots. That's all I've got to say. ... Augh! I got da poo on me! BOSS - Professer Higharolla Kockamamie Equip either the homing force or lancer force. This guy's attacks consist of making the wind blow, to try and knock you in the water and throwing fish at you. When he's about half gone, he'll start to travel to the right. The auto-scroll of the screen can cause a problem. Jump from platform to platform and keep shooting. Stage 12 - Escape With the prof. dead, the children are safe. Now, Epsilon needs to find a way out of the base. You know the drill. When you reach a boat, save the teddy bear from the baddies. He'll start up the boat and you'll haul ass outa there. Now, when you're on the boat, remember that the dirction you press, the boat will move. Yes, press left and you'll walk to the back of the boat, and the boat will also move left on the screen! Yikes! I feel omnipotent now! Shoot the baddies until the boss appears. BOSS - Polly Lobster This giant lobster will appear and throw the teddy bear off the boat! Bastard! Time to melt the butter and bring out the bibs! The flame force works well here, seeing as how you've got no range but point blank. While you're shooting, you can move the boat to make it so you can teleport past its attacks without falling into the water. When it backs off into the water, it's about to leap over your head. Shoot the little lobsters for healthups. Keep shooting until you can serve it up on a silver platter. Then Epsilon will have successfully escaped the underground base and stumbled upon an enormous tower. Get ready. The action is about to heat up! Part 3 - Thy Soul Tainted Epsilon makes his way up the tower, battling more baddies, but not knowing what awaits him at the top. Stage 13 - Door Guards Epsilon lands at the undeground entrance to the tower. A snake-like-thing will appear and weave about the screen. Don't bother trying to kill it unless you have the buster force. Just dodge it for awhile, until the boss appears. BOSS - Bugmax Stand in front of the second waterfall from the right and shoot at the thing's top. Eventually, it will transform into a moth form. Get behind it and shoot it. When it releases little maggots, shoot them for lifeups. Two rams will kill this bug. Stage 14 - I Knew I Should Have Brought those Night Vision Goggles... In case you haven't noticed, this stage is dark. Weapon shots will light up the place, but that wastes ammo. Basically, watch the blue lights in the background. If there is a break in them, a baddie is there. A jump might as well be referred to as a switch here, between the floor and the ceiling. There is a powerup in here too. BOSS - Depth Perception Uh...big...eye... What is there to do other than shoot it? When it fires three bullets, switch to the side with the gap and catch the one bullet that would be a danger. When it sends out mines, just jump over them. When it sends out the spiked ball, quickly get on the oppisate (floor or roof) of it and teleport through the thing as it comes toward you. Keep shooting and it'll die. Stage 15 - I See a Bright Light... Head over to the right, snatch the powerups in the bottom right corner. Get the homing force if you don't have it. Then climb. Fire something to see what's happening and avoid the falling rocks and lasers. At the top, the area will light up. BOSS - Sunset Sting Aw... What a pwetty wittle fwower...OW! That thing's got thorns! Shoot at its head, and catching the thorns will cause them to bounce away, but not reflect. When it shoots its petals at you, catch them for whopping 100 point healthups! The ram isn't very effective, but use it when you can. For some reason, it explodes after a while. Stage 16 - Arachniphobia As soon as the stage starts, you'll be picked up. BOSS - Mothra This ugly moth is your platform, and getting knocked off is bad. It has three attacks. The first, waves of bugs from either side. Shoot these buggers. It will also shoot worm things at you. Avoid them. Finally, it will shoot bullets straight down. Just aim for the center of it and keep shooting. It'll careen into a spider web for another battle. Truncated adds: "Can be killed basically before is attacks by kneeling (up left) right next to the head and then using the flaming force." NOTE: I have tried his strategy here, and it will kill Mothra in about five to ten seconds! WHOO! BOSS - Back Stringer Don't bother shooting the arachnid while it's feasting on the moth. Equip the homing force and shoot it while it's down low. When the little spiders appear, shoot them. They will pull the moth down, eventually off the screen, removing your platform! When you have spiderman down to about 500 health, it'll crawl around after you. Ram it to kill it instantly. If you're not maxed out, just keep shooting. Stage 17 - The Evil in Us All Boy, that's a grand view. Look out for the crosshairs. They mark where life-sapping lasers will strike. Before long, you'll meet Epsilon's evil twin. BOSS - Epsilon-One Epsilon confronts the evil from his soul. If he doesn't defeat it here, the world will be destroyed! The maniacal bird attacks with bullets from its eyes, lasers from its wings, and lasers from some source above. All attacks suck away a whopping 200 points from your life. The shields on its feet can block anything, even the almighty homing force. Switch to the lancer force and shoot it in the face. When it flies off the top of the screen, hit a savestate, unless you're not using an emulator. As if you actually found a copy of this game. *snort* Yeah, right! The reason for the save is that the evil one is about to swoop down, fire bullets straight down and shoot lasers all across the floor. Load the state if you get hit. Trust me. Eventually, the thing'll die. Cutscene - Thy Mind Shattered Epsilon: It's all over. I've defeated Xi-Tiger, the creater of darkness, and the evil from my very soul. Now the world may continue on its natural course. *He gazes over at the world he has saved. Suddenly, the planet explodes.* Epsilon: What?! *A shadowed form appears in the void.* Z-Leo: This experiment has proven a failure. It is no longer needed. Epsilon: You bastard! You just killed billions of innocent people! Z-Leo: I experiment as I so please. If you could ever hope to stop me, I would invite you to my base. But you have no hope. I will now also destoy the planet Earth, as its people are too likely to self-destruct. *The form vanishes.* *Epsilon battles within himself.* Epsilon: It doesn't matter what he thinks. He's murdered billions of innocent people, and intends to murder more. Can't let it go on. *He takes off into the Time-Space Continuum, heading toward Earth.* Part 4 - Thy Body Broken Epsilon lands somewhere in the Rocky Mountains (I think) and senses a great power source. He moves to investigate. Stage 18 - Welcoming Commitee Nothing new here. Move along. I had all four of my weapons maxed out at 2000 here. But, I never changed from my original selection. BOSS - Destroyer-MK2 This thing is pathetic compared to Epsilon-One. Use a ram to knock all its shields away from it, then shoot the core. Catch its shots. Use catch to reflect the blocks it throws at you. Ignore the big lasers. Don't stand on the roof. Stage 19 - Hey! He's Got His Own Castle! You know the drill. BOSS - Melon Bread Hey! It's that thing from Gunstar Heros! This thing is totally pathetic. Equip the lancer force and it'll be dead in about thirty seconds. Stage 20 - Awe, Hell Yeah Epsilon moves underneath the castle, and meets up with Sara. The girl he failed to save. Epsilon: You?! Sara: You bastard. You let me die. Epsilon: I would've saved you if I could! Sara: No. Z-Leo saved me. He granted me the power to kill you! VALKYRIE FORCE! BOSS - Valkyrie Force She has three attacks. One is kicking you. When she crosses her arms, she shoots her fist. She'll also throw that big friggin' boomerang. Just teleport past them all and aim for the torso. Sara: Not bad! Now try this! MEDUSA FORCE! BOSS - Medusa Force This is less of a boss and more of a shooting gallery. Use the homing force, and switch to secondary fire so you can shoot and move at once. Her only attack is speeding up, whichever direction she's going. There are lots of powerups around, so fill up. Sara: Let's keep going! SYLPHEED FORCE! BOSS - Sylpheed Force Use the homing force and keep shooting! She'll defend herself and the shots will go right through her guard, pinning her down! Keep shooting till she switches again. If you run out of homing force, you'll have to wait for her to open her guard before you fire. Sara: Time to put this to rest! ARTEMIS FORCE! BOSS - Artemis Force Awe, hell no! Not another one! This is the most annoying one of Sara's forms, as her weak point is the tip of the tail. Use the homing force for a much easier fight. If you ram, wait for her to jump, and ram when her tail is aligned with her head. This will do MUCH more damage. Truncated adds: "I don't understand how you think this is the most annoying form, I had much more problem with the water fight (Sirene). Let the cat jump once towards you, then stand close to her. As she flips to shoot a fireball, zip through her. When she lands with ther tail towards you, just blast it. If you are standing close enough she will shoot again. Repeat." NOTE: This is the most annoying form to me because I don't like such a small moving target, but to each his own. Sara: Why can't you just die?! SIRENE FORCE! BOSS - Sirene Force First of all, you are underwater for this fight. The flame and homing forces WILL NOT work! Use either the lancer or buster force and shoot whenever you get a clear shot. A direct hit with the lancer will score about 500 damage. Hellz yeah! Remember, the whirlpool you're in circles clockwise. The mines she spits out circle counter-clockwise. Know when you can just drift and know when to teleport! WATCH OUT FOR THOSE SPIKES! Truncated adds: "Not much to add, except that the firebird ram wont work. (duh... I felt stupid when I catched bombs until I had full life)" NOTE: Yes, it is very sad the firebird ram won't work. I shoulda mentioned it, being firebased. Sorry. After killing Sara, Epsilon feels betrayed. How many more innocents must suffer before the battle ends? He senses a power so great it can only belong to Z-Leo. He flies off in its direction. Part 5 - Thy Heart Invincible Epsilon has located Z-Leo in the asteroid belt. He plans a direct assualt on the base, killing anything that gets in his path. Damn, he's pissed! Stage 21 - First Blood Epsilon has entered the asteroid belt and begins the hunt for Z-Leo. Grey asteroids are just background. Beige ones hurt. Catch beige ones for healthups. Go on. Fill up. BOSS - Destroyer Prototype This UFO (Unintelligent Flying Object) has three attacks. The first, it will point out two guns and glow blue, then shoot two lasers in straight directions. The second, it will point out on gun and glow gold, then shoot lasers in every direction EXCEPT the one it pointed to. The third, it will glow red, then start spewing bullets everywhere. You should know what to do from here. Stage 22 - The Perverse Missles Epsilon starts his descent into Z-Leo's base. Shoot the bikers, and watch out for missiles. A missle will only be too happy to fly right up your ass and deliver a whopping 100 points damage. BOSS - Spikey Worm This overgrown centipede is asking for it by getting in Epsilon's way. Use the homing force, as it makes it much easier to hit the bastard. It's attacks consist of crashing into you, shooting its segments out everywhere, and spitting acid. The acid can be caught for lifeups. Ram it at least once. It'll make ya grin at how much life it loses at that. Stage 23 - Just Like Begger's Canyon Back Home Hmm? Where have I seen this before? Oh, well. I'm sure I'll place it later. Anyway, Epsilon begins his entry, when he is suddenly attacked. Grab all the healthups you can before the boss gets there. BOSS - Wolfgunblood Garopa This horseman has two attacks. First, he'll put a crosshair on you and shoot a lot of bullets. Teleport a lot to avoid it. The second, he'll pull ahead, then either the horse will duck under walls above or jump over walls below. Follow the leader, giving him the worst enema of his life. The rider, not the horse, is the weak point. Stage 24 - Down Into Hell Itself This terrifying elevator ride starts with missles coming underneath. Watch out! I have dscovered that you can control this elevator like the boat! Press up or down while NOT firing to move it up and down! This helps a bunch! BOSS - Return of the Perverse Missles The floor terror. Use the homing force and shoot the center. Always move the elevator away from it so you have time to avoid its attacks. When it switches sides, move to a section that has already moved, then move the elevator. Stage 25 - Thy Flesh Consumed Z-Leo: So you have finally arrived. You have proven to be a powerful adversary. I offer you a place at my side as a ruler of the universe! Epsilon: *silence* Z-Leo: No? Think of the power you would possess! You would be able to create and destroy civilizations as you see fit! Epsilon: Enough of your talking. Now shut up and die. Z-Leo: Why must you oppose me? I am the creator and the destroyer. All living things are mere playthings to me! Epsilon: It is a serious mistake when the created is stronger than the creator. People have their own free will and thoughts. I cannot allow you to toss away such things as though they were meaningless. Now, come! We battle, wizard! BOSS - Z-Leo The big badass. The bastard of bastards. Let's kill him! He has three attacks. One, spitting a fireball at you. Two, picking up his Mega Man-like gun and shooting. Three, throwing the platform you're on up in the air and shooting lasers at you. You should be good enough by now to handle these. Now, to actually hurt him, as he is immune to all weapons, when he spits a fireball, catch it to send it flying back at him! Hit him in the face with it for MASSIVE damage! Keep going to beat him and save Earth! *Insert Fanfare here.* Truncated adds: "Not only the fireballs, but also the ram will hurt... and, surprisingly... the "out of weapon"-weapon. Waste one weapon's energy (the lancer is easiest), freeze in the air next to his head and there is nothing except the lasers that will hit you." Cutscene - Thy Power Great, Thy Soul Kind Epsilon escapes Z-Leo's exploding base, to return to Earth. No one will ever know that the battle even took place, but when evil rears its ugly head, he will return, to protect those who cannot protect themselves. THE END ----------------------------------- 9. Closing ----------------------------------- Wheeee! I love this game! Now, if you think you're such a great player, finish it without getting hit once! Ha ha! It's not possible! Like I said at the top, if you don't like my version of the story, write up yours and I'll post it in the faq. Email is at the top, and I hope to add at least one other version. Now, go kick Z-Leo's ass without my help. Send in your strategies and they'll be posted too. This was my first faq, and I hope it's not my last. I probably will only make faqs for lesser known games, but I may try a big one eventually. SEEYA! ----------------------------------- 10. Updates ----------------------------------- June 2003: Faq is created. Freedan said, "Let there be Faq!" And there was. It was good. November 6, 2003: Added some strategies from Truncated. This guy caught stuff I didn't. Major thanks, dude!